Purple Gallinule Killed by Cat

Rare Bird Killed in Nova Scotia

Purple Gallinule [Internet Photo]

The Purple Gallinule (Porphyrio martinica) is a rare bird to see in the Maritimes.  Its normal range is Florida, southern Alabama, Mississippi, Texas and Mexico.  It rarely appears north of that but the species is known for occasional vagrants who wander as far north as southern Canada.  Most are seen in the fall as a result of being blown northward by strong winds from storms and hurricanes.  There are at least 20 records of one having arrived in New Brunswick.  This species has also shown up periodically in Europe and Africa!

The Purple Gallinule is a pond-loving species.  It is a secretive bird and is seen wandering around on floating vegetation or climbing on low-overhanging bushes, using its long toes to advantage.  It eats invertebrates, frogs, aquatic vegetation, seeds, and berries.

As you can see the Purple Gallinule is a beautiful bird.  It is green, purple, red and blue with yellow legs and feet and very long toes.  It is 33 cm (13 in) long and appears about the size of a bantam chicken.  

A Purple Gallinule was recently recorded in Nova Scotia.  The body of one was brought home by a cat.  Whether the cat killed the bird is not determined but is likely.  It is difficult to imagine a cat wandering near a pond in order to kill such a bird but cats are natural killers so would go to any length to capture prey.  It is unfortunate that this bird was killed.  See the photo below of the bird that the cat brought home.

Purple Gallinule [Ryan Daniels Photo]

Feral and house cats are the major cause of bird mortality in North America.  They kill more birds than strikes with buildings, vehicles and communication towers, and poisonings by pesticides. That is a huge number.  It is estimated that cats kill between 1.3 and 4 billion birds per year in North America (audubon.org).  The cat population in the US is about 1 million.  I am not sure how many we have in Canada but it is close to that.  No wonder our bird population numbers are shrinking to dangerous levels!  The cat population is so high they are now considered a global invasive species.  On some islands in the world domestic cats have driven some bird species into extinction.  

What can be done about this problem?  Feral cats kill more birds than domestic cats but domestic cats still kill plenty.  A simple solution is to keep the cats indoors.  That has been known for a long time but cats like to wander outside and it is difficult to keep them indoors.  Many cat owners do not wish to keep their cat indoors.  Some studies have been done with some success on special collars for cats to decrease bird mortality.  Other studies have looked at what time of year most of the killings occur with the idea of restricting cats at certain times or dates.  There have been ambitious programs to reduce the feral cat populations in a humane way (CARMA) but neutered cats still kill birds.  So, even after a lot of work on this problem, no satisfactory solution has been found yet.  Funds need to be made available for more research and pet owners need to be more vigilant with their cats.