Dorset Bird Club Records

Allen's Gallinule Porphyrula alleni

2002 Weston, Portland, juvenile to first-winter, moribund, 10th February, photo. specimen now at Natural History Museum, Tring.

The Finders Account
Martin Cade, Portland Bird Observatory

As all reserve and observatory wardens will know, phone-calls from members of the public about unidentified or sickly birds are something of a occupational hazard. despite one's protestations to the contrary, the mystery bird in the caller's garden is always a rarity, and depite your being nothing more than a humble birdwatcher, the caller always accords you miraculous healing powers that the veterinary surgeons, in your area have somehow failed to acquire from their years of specialist training. The trouble with these phone-calls is that you ignore them at your peril....

Early in the afternoon on 10th February 2002, Ashleigh Snaith was walking her dog close to the West Cliffs at Weston, Portland, When her attention was drawn to what appeared to be the corpse of a bird that the dog had discovered in rough grass ahead of her. As she approached,the 'corpse' moved its head and neck and she realised the bird was alive but obviously unwell as it made no attempt to stand up, let alone fly away. Being concerned for the bird's welfare and curious to learn of its identity, she picked it up and took it the short distance to her flat before contacting Portland Bird Observatory.

By the time of my arrival, the bird had been placed in an emty shoe-box. The Box-lid was duly lifted to reveal - to my astonishment - an Allen's Gallinule! Unfortunately it was immediately obvious the bird was all but moribund: it was able to weakly lift its neck and open its eyes, but other movement seemed beyond it. Examinaton in the hand revealed the pectoral muscles were completely wasted and the sternum could be felt protruding knife-like beneath the breast feathering; the lack of any apparent elasticity in the skin also suggested the bird was suffering from extreme dehydration. The prognosis was bleak, and despite attempts to force-feed the bird fluids - which it seemed too weak even to swallow - its condition deteriorated rapidly and it died an hour later. the bird weighed 82gms, which contrasts with typical weights of heathy birds of around 140-170gms, indeed the lowest published weight of a live bird is 102gms (Cramp 1980, Taylor 1998, Urban 1986). The specimen has been donated to the British Museum.