Description
Super nice morning visit to nature park El Hondo, before we went to the Funtastic Dracula Carnival 21 in Benidorm.
What an awesome place to hang out for a while.
Birds all over the place!
My kinda favorite morning for sure!
Amongst all the different species, the super good Looking Purple Swamphen or Western Swamphen (Porphyrio porphyrio)
What a nice bird to observe.
Observatorio del Parque de El Hondo, Elx, Alicante, Spain 09-10-2026
El Hondo Nature Reserve forms part of the lagoon area of Elche, which is created by the mouth of the River Vinalopó and which was almost entirely drained between the Middle Ages and the XIII century, in order to convert it into farm land.
In this area of marsh land, in the 1920s of the last century, the Compañía de Riegos de Levante (the Levante Irrigation Company), constructed two regulating reservoirs: the Levante Reservoir of 450 hectares and the Poniente Reservoir of 650. They serve to collect and subsequently distribute to the local farmers, by means of a central channel, water brought from the mouth of the neighbouring River Segura. These bodies of water are hidden behind reed thickets and other marsh vegetation, giving it the aspect of great natural lagoon. They are surrounded by a series of ponds and salt marshes, with crops and groves of palm trees in the hinterland, making up an exceptional landscape.
The western swamphen is a swamphen in the rail family Rallidae, one of the six species of purple swamphen. From the French name talève sultane, it is also known as the sultana bird. This chicken-sized bird, with its large feet, bright plumage and red bill and frontal shield is easily recognisable in its native range. It used to be considered the nominate subspecies of the purple swamphen, but is now recognised as a separate species. The western swamphen is found in wetlands in Spain, Portugal, southeastern France, Italy and northwestern Africa.
Also known as;
Grootkoningriethaan, koningriethaan sp.
دجاجة السلطان, نوع دجاج ماء
Porphyrio sp.
বেগুনি কালেম
Gall faver, Polla blava, Polla blava comuna, Porphyrio sp. (swamphen sp.)
karab-abuhon
Slípka modrá, slípka sp.
Sultanhøne, Sultanhøne sp.
Porphyrio, unbestimmt, Purpurhuhn, Purpurhuhn, unbestimmt, Purpurralle
Σουλτανοπουλάδα
Blue coot, European Purple Gallinule, Mediterranean swamphen, Purple coot, Purple Gallinule, Purple moorhen, Purple swamp hen, Purple Swamphen, Purple Swamp-hen, Purple Swamphen (European), Purple Swamphen (porphyrio), Purple Swamphen (West Mediterranean), Purple Swamphen (Western), Sultan hen, Swamp hen, West Mediterranean Purple Swamphen, Western Swamphen
Ordinara porfirio, Porfiria porfirio, Porfirio, Purpura porfirio, Sultankoko
Calamon, Calamón Común, Mancon azul
Sultantait
Polla blava, Uroilo urdin, Uroilo urdina
Sulttaanikana, Välimerensulttaanikana
Brandnev
Porphyrion bleu, Poule sultane, Talève sultane, Talève sultane (Europe), Talève sultane (nominal), Talève sultane (nominale), Talève sultane (porphyrio), Talève sultane (race nominale)
Talève-porphyrion
Camón, Camón común, Polla blava
פורפיריה, פורפיריה מערבית
Fulica alba, Fulica Porphyrio, Gallinula alba, Porphyrio alba alba, Porphyrio albus, Porphyrio caesius, Porphyrio hyacinthinus, Porphyrio porphyrio, Porphyrio porphyrio porphyrio
Purperkoet
Blåsultanhøne
caimão-comum, Camão
Purpurhöna, västlig purpurhöna
Shaunge Zambarau
Birding Birds Spain Espania