Allen’s Gallinule

Porphyrula alleni

Order: Gruiformes
Family: Rallidae
Presence in the Strait: Vagrant
IUCN (global): LC · Least concern
In Spanish: Calamoncito africano

Photograph: Nigel Voaden, CC BY, vía iNaturalist

Length: 22–26 cm
Wingspan: 112–172 cm
Weight: 125–154 g

Presence in the Strait

Accidental. One juvenile at Gibraltar on 13.12.01 after a strong storm.

Identification

Rallidae Rascón Europeo juv. ad. Polluela Pintoja Polluela Chica Adults are like a Common Moorhen but much smaller, darker colours with green upperparts and blue underparts, and white undertail coverts divided by a central black band; red bill, blue frontal shield and red legs. Juveniles are ochre-coloured below, with upperparts warm brown, mottled dark and dull bill with reddish base. They originate from tropical Africa.

Bioestrecho editorial text. Last revised: 8 September 2026.

Photographs from iNaturalist observations with the licence checked file by file. Those marked “Strait” were taken within the area; place and date are those of each observation.

Calendar in the Strait

100 %

Peak in December. Observations under CC0 or CC BY licences. The distribution also reflects observation effort.

Where it is seen

Open records from the atlas database, in cells of about 3.6 km. Opacity follows the square root of the count, and also reflects where people observe most.

See on the map

First open record: 22 December 2000
Latest record: 22 December 2000

The oldest and the most recent open observation in the extended area. A recent first observation does not mean the species is new: it means nobody had published it openly before.

Conservation

The catalogues, Andalusian and Spanish, are what binds; the Red Book assesses the Spanish population with IUCN criteria, and the global Red List is the context.

LCNTVUENCR

Andalusian Catalogue: Not included
Spanish Catalogue: Not included
Red Book of the Birds of Spain 2021: Outside the Red List (not assessed)
Global Red List (IUCN): LC · Least concern

Andalusian Catalogue: Junta de Andalucía, list of 24 April 2025. Spanish Catalogue: MITECO, table of 30 June 2025. Red Book: SEO/BirdLife, 2021 (Annex I). IUCN: via GBIF, 6 September 2026. Red Book and IUCN categories are assessments; catalogue categories are legal obligations.

Classification

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Gruiformes
Family: Rallidae
GBIF taxon key: 4408502

Sources

Distribution and calendar: Bioestrecho's own database, ingested from GBIF and OBIS
Photograph: Nigel Voaden, CC BY, vía iNaturalist
Taxonomy: GBIF backbone, pending WoRMS for marine taxa
Editorial text: written by Bioestrecho
Last revised: 8 September 2026

Allen’s Gallinule

Presence in the Strait

Identification

Gallery