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Western Swamphens are large waterhens with purple-blue plumage. The front is purple; wings, rump, vent and uppertail are blue. The facial shield and bill are red. The legs and feet are orange. The undertail coverts are white. In-flight the legs often dangle conspicuously under the tail. Juveniles have duller colours than adults and no or little red on bill or facial shield yet.

Twitcher's tip

The difference between a Western Swamphen and a Common Moorhen is that the former has one white spot, while the latter has two on its undertail. This provides birdwatchers with an easy method to distinguish in particular immature birds of the two species.

The former "Purple Swamphen" has been split up into 6 different species. The Western Swamphen, Porphyrio porphyrio, was considered to be the nominate race of that former species.

The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found, based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to ebird.org .

The global distribution of the Western Swamphen is available HERE .

Western Swamphens are a sedentary species. Their range is limited to parts of south-western Europe, small areas in north-western Africa near the Strait of Gibraltar, and parts of near-coastal Tunisia.

In Europe the range of the Western Swamphen is limited to parts of the southern half of Iberia, wetlands near the Mediterranean coastline in southern France, some of the Balearic Islands and Sardinia.

Western Swamphens have a preference for well-vegetated wetlands around freshwater lakes (including ponds in gardens and urban parks) and in swamps and marshes.

J. Pires reports spotting Western Swamphens along the Guadiana river in Badajoz, Spain, and in Elvas, Alentejo, Portugal, in July 2018. They were found at Elvas, Alentejo, Portugal, again in August 2019. Others were seen near Mora, Evora, Portugal, in the timeframe October/November 2019. Another was found at Badajoz, Spain, in November 2021. All sighting and photographic information presented on this page has kindly been contributed by J. Pires.