Notes of Interest

Notes of Interest

PURPLE GALLINULE IN ST. LOUIS COUNTY — On 3 November 2015, I discovered an

apparently immature Purple Gallinule (Porphyrio martinicus) in one of my

muskrat traps on the St. Louis River of Duluth’s southern edge. The exact

location cannot be determined because the high water level of Lake Superior

has severely changed the river level, but the following GPS coordinates are

within fifty feet of the location, 46.652056, -92.209111.

When retrieving the bird, I was at first very confused as I tried to identify

what I had inadvertently caught. Upon closer inspection, its legs and toes

gave it away as a Purple Gallinule, but I could not imagine why such a bird

would be so far north at this time of year. In all of my travels, I have never encountered this. It

had clearly drowned prior to discovery, so there was no chance of rehabilitating it.

The bird was the approximate size of a small crow and was mostly olive-colored. The face

was brownish and mottled with paler buff. The bill was a faint yellow-red and the face shield

was muted. The breast was blue, and these feathers changed to purple toward the belly. There

were shades of green and bronze in the primaries and the back. The gallinule had large, thick

legs and exceptionally long toes with very long claws.

I brought it home and stored it in my freezer for a possible taxidermy mount by an inter-

ested ornithological organization. I contacted the ornithology department at the University of

Minnesota, Duluth, and also the local bird club, but received no response from either. I assumed

they thought I was some nut who knew little about birds and had misidentified the specimen. It

remained in my freezer until I had the opportunity to tour the Cable Natural History Museum in

Cable, WI, and asked them if they were interested in it for their collection. Initially, I got a strange

look from them and had to show the picture on my phone to prove that it was an actual Purple

Gallinule. They did an amazing job with the mount considering some of the feather damage that

had occurred.

I have hunted, trapped, fished, and birded on the St. Louis River since the mid 1960s and

Purple Gallinule, specimen and resulting taxidermic mount. Salvaged 3 November 2015, Duluth,

St. Louis County. Photos by Mollie Kreb, Cable Natural History Museum.

82 The Loon Volume 91