Azure gallinule

The azure gallinule (Porphyrio flavirostris) is a species of bird in subfamily Rallinae of family Rallidae, the rails, gallinules, and coots. It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela.

The azure gallinule is 23 to 26 cm (9.1 to 10 in) long. Males weigh 92 to 111 g (3.2 to 3.9 oz) and females 92 to 107 g (3.2 to 3.8 oz). It is the smallest member of its genus and has quite different plumage from the others. The sexes are alike. Adults have a pale greenish yellow bill and frontal shield and yellow legs and feet. They have a pale brownish olive crown, hindneck, and back. Their upperwing coverts are azure to greenish blue, their flight feathers gray-blue, and the uppertail coverts and tail brownish olive to black. Their face, sides of the neck, and breast are pale blue-gray and the rest of their underparts white. Immature birds have browner upperparts than adults with a buffy face, neck, and breast; their frontal shield is green and their legs and feet yellowish orange.