Grey-headed Swamphen

About this species

This species has 345,246 occurrence records from 61 countries and territories (GBIF, 21 October 2026). Most records come from India (70.7%), the United States (16.5%), Sri Lanka (4%) and Thailand (3.1%); together they account for 94.3% of the total. In India, this species accounts for 0.4% of all bird records in GBIF.

The scientific name Porphyrio poliocephalus combines the genus name Porphyrio with the species epithet poliocephalus. The Warbla app catalog lists 9 species of the genus Porphyrio; apart from this one, those with the most GBIF records are Porphyrio porphyrio, Porphyrio melanotus and Porphyrio martinica.

The catalog has GBIF record counts for 122 species of the family Rallidae. This species ranks 14th among them; the family’s most-recorded species is Fulica americana. Its record count is 1.4 times the family average (243,573). The family Rallidae belongs to the order Gruiformes, which has 150 species in the Warbla app catalog.

More birds in the family Rallidae

• Western Swamphen
• Australasian Swamphen
• American Coot
• Common Moorhen
• Common Coot
• Common Gallinule
• Brown-cheeked rail
• White-breasted Waterhen
• Dusky Moorhen
• Red-knobbed Coot
• Black Crake

Credits & data sources

• Wikidata
• GBIF.org