This morning when I was walking with my friend, Karina, we had one of these birds running after us. We stopped and let him catch up. He came right up to my hand. I thought he might be someone's pet, but then he ran off after another smaller bird. We had never seen such a colorful bird. We have lots of interesting birds, but he was the friendliest.
http://www.nhptv.org/natureworks/purplegallinule.htm
I have a picture of one of those birds from a walk on the 3 mile lak, Lake Hollingsworth. I had never seen one, either. I highly recommend that everyone take a walk around this lake just to see the birds!
Love,
Mom