This is the Purple Moorhen. The male is a glistening purple color and the female is a little duller than the male with greyish-purple color. This bird can be seen clumsily moving around with calculated gait and the short stubby tail flicking at every step. They forage on insects, mollusks, water beetles, and water-plant shoots. In their foraging sprees they sometimes invade the close by paddy fields and graze on the tender rice-shoots. This is not much of a problem as the farmer’s presence is enough to send them off scuttling for cover among the reeds.

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