American Purple Gallinule, Blue Heron Wetland, Titusville, FL
A FIVE MINUTE DRIVE FROM THE HOTEL finally put paid to my moaning that everyone and his dog seemed to have seen purple gallinule this week except for me. I have inexplicably missed this bird on previous visits to the USA and it was something of a relief to see one at last. A big thank you to Jeff Gordon and Robert Kirk for sharing the news of the bird in the northwest corner of the Blue Heron Wetland today, pacing around the floating vegetation in which also lurked at least three big Alligators. I decided against poking my lens through the shelter belt alongside the drive. They are fairly small in comparison to old world swamphens and the most striking feature when bent over feeding was the shining blue neck. A quick spin around the rest of Blue Heron added a Wilson's Snipe but nothing else new for this trip.