Cute Purple Gallinule chick hatches

21st July 2016

Baby chick snuggled up with mum

We have a wonderful new addition, a Purple Gallinule chick! This is the first time this species has bred at Paradise Park.

It is a couple of weeks old and it has been fascinating to see how well its parents care for it. Walking with it and offering tiny bits of food, then encouraging it to snuggle under their feathers to keep warm.

Adult displaying

These birds have remarkably large feet. They are members of the rail family, their other name being the Purple Swamphen, which gives a clue to where their long toes prove useful. They are able to walk on floating vegetation, and clamber across reeds and swamps. They also use their feet to grab young shoots and bring the food towards their beak. Their diet is mainly leaves and shoots, but they will also take snails and even eggs from the nests of other water birds.

Lovely little video of this very cute chick trying to snuggle up with mum but is just a tad to big 🙂 .  Also spot the chick starting to preen.