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Purple Bird Dreams

Amazing birds from all over the world with purple coloring

By Rasma RaistersPublished 3 years ago 6 min read
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North America

Being the largest North American swallow the Purple Martin can be found throughout temperate North America. These birds are very large and broad-chested. They have black beaks, legs and feet, stout, forked bills and long tapered wings.

Adult males have iridescent, dark blue-purple coloring all over with brown-black wings and tails. Adult females have gray heads and chests with some steel blue sheen and a whitish lower belly. Purple Martins can be seen in the eastern U.S. in nest boxes and martin houses and in natural cavities in parts of western U.S. and Mexico.

Purple Martins feed on flying insects among them wasps, winged ants, some bees. beetles, moths, and butterflies. Dragonflies may be an important part of their diet. They might also eat some spiders.

They spend their winters in the Amazon basin of South America.

Purple Gallinules are brightly colored marsh birds that make their home in the U.S. states of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Texas. They can also be found as far south as Central and South America and the West Indies.

Purple Gallinules prefer swamps, lagoons, ponds, and freshwater marshes with floating vegetation. Their diets consist of both plants and animals such as frogs, insects, fish, worms, snails, bird eggs, aquatic foliage, seeds, and berries.

Adult birds have a stunning purple-blue plumage with a glossy green back. They have dark purple heads, necks, and undersides, Their eyes are red and the bill has a yellow tip and they have long yellow legs.

Purple Gallinules build their nests in low, dense marsh vegetation over water. Both males and females work together making large, bulky platforms of grasses, cattails, stems, and leaves that sits securely at water level or a few inches above. Females lay 5 - 10 eggs that are pink with brown splotches. Both of the bird parents incubate the eggs for 22 - 25 days before they hatch. After nine weeks, the young birds are ready to fly and live independently.

Varied Buntings are stocky, medium-sized songbirds that are common and widespread in the southern parts of the U.S. states of Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas and can also be found throughout most of Mexico.

These are brilliantly colored birds that make their homes in forests, streamline thickets, and scrubby woodlands. Male birds have purple-red bodies with red napes, blue crowns, and rumps. Their wings and tails are purple-blue. Female birds are grayish-brown with buff underparts.

Their diets consist of insects, seeds, seedpods, and cactus fruit.

Central and South America

Purple Honeycreepers are also referred to as Yellow-Legged Honeycreepers. They are small birds that reside in northern South America. These birds are a forest canopy species but can also be found in cocoa and citrus plantations. Their diets consist of berries and insects they find in the canopies.

Adult males have purplish-blue plumage with black wings, chin, throat, and belly, The blue tails show two black central feathers, They have brown eyes and bright yellow legs. Adult females have lime green upperparts and green-streaked yellowish buff underparts.

The female birds build small cup nests in trees and incubate two brown-blotched white eggs.

Violet-crowned Woodnymphs or Purple-crowned Woodnymphs are medium-sized Central and South American hummingbirds. They live in wet lowlands and foothills up to 2500 meters.

The adult males have violet crowns, upper back, shoulders and bellies, They have green throats, breasts, and lower backs, The female has bright green above and duller green below, with grey throats and breasts.

These birds feed on the nectar of a variety of flowers. When it comes time to breed the females are responsible for building the nests and incubation. They hatch two white eggs.

Purple-Mantled Tanagers live in Colombia and Ecuador. They make their homes in natural habitats like humid, mossy rainforests, second-growth woodlands, and heavily degraded forest borders. They feed on berries and insects.

Africa

Making their home in woodlands and savannah forest edges of mainland sub-Saharan Africa are lovely Violet-Backed Starlings. This species is the smallest of the Southern African starlings. The male birds stand out with a deep iridescent violet along the length of their back, wings, face, and throat. Their eyes are brown and the bill and legs are black. The female birds have brown heads and backs and their white underparts are streaked with dark brown.

Violet-Backed Starlings during the non-breeding season can be found in single-sex flocks or flocks that include female starlings with juveniles. When breeding season comes they pair off into single pairs. Their diets consist of both fruits like mulberries and figs and insects like locusts, butterflies, bees, and wasps.

Throughout East Africa, you can find the Purple Grenadier. The species makes its home in subtropical and tropical lowlands and dry shrubland. These are lovely birds with amazing purple coloring and both the males and females have red beaks and black tails.

The males stand out with cinnamon-colored underparts and purplish-blue feathers around the eyes. Their faces are in vibrant blues and their underparts. The females are cinnamon brown, with their breasts and bellies spotted or barred white, There is some purple on their tail feathers. Their diets consist of termites and grass seeds.

When nesting time comes the males do most fo the work on building the nest. However, both males and females take care of the eggs which usually are between 3 and 5 and hatch in 13 days. The bird parents feed them termites and later the little ones will eat ripe seeds, They are ready to learn to fly and leave the nest when they are 20 days old.

During nesting, the male does most of the work on building the nest. Both the male and female care for the eggs in the nest, there will be between 3 and 5 eggs in the nest, they will hatch in 13 days. The parents will feed them termites to start with, they will later eat ripe seeds. By the time they are 20 days old, they are ready to learn to fly and leave the nest.

Purple Starlings are also called Purple Glossy Starlings and can be found widespread in tropical Africa. They make their homes in scrublands, open woodlands, savannas, and cultivated areas.

Adul birds have metallic purple heads, crowns, and bodies. They have black and glossy green wings. Their eyes are large and yellow with black beaks and short tails. Their diet consists of fruit and insects.

Their breeding season is from February to May, They make their nests in tree cavities and have 2 - 3 eggs.

Splendid Sunbirds are small passerine birds that make their home in west and central tropical Africa. This species is a common breeder in wet savannah and woodland. They are characterized by their long, thin down-curved bills and brush-tipped tubular tongues.

These birds feed on small insects and sip nectar from small flowers,

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About the Creator

Rasma Raisters

My passions are writing and creating poetry. I write for several sites online and have four themed blogs on Wordpress. Please follow me on Twitter.

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