This species was introduced 1996-1998 near Pembroke Pines Florida where it quickly spread. It can cause damage to vegetation, especially spikerush plants (Eleocharis spp.) which they kill by breaking them off and stripping them from the base. We watched this individual feeding in exactly this manner.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) attempted to manage Purple Swamphens in Florida killing by over 3,100 Purple Swamphens from October 2006 until December 2008 after which the "management" program was abandoned. The population remains established and the species was added to the American Birding Association Checklist in February 2013.
Most of the Florida birds, such as this, show characters of the gray-headed subspecies P. p. poliocephalus. This race is native from Turkey to Thailand. Some authors consider it to be a separate species, the Gray-headed Swamphen (P. poliocephalus).
Digiscoped with Panasonic DMC-LX5 | Nikon FieldScope III | 30XWA | hand-held (no adapter).