Purple Gallinule

The family has been to Florida for six visits, and one bird that has always eluded me is the Purple Gallinule. Oh there have been some near misses over the years but never an actual sighting. The 2013 visit was to change that big time.
        In an earlier post,
" beware-of-vultures-and-other-things," we visited Royal Palm, and while there, I was busy taking pics, when my wife gave me a shout. When I went over to where she was stood, she said she had just seen a bird fly across the water and into the bushes, I started to get exited when she described what it looked like, Purple Gallinule, it must be, but yet again it was not on view for me. we watched and waited for quite some time, with the heat of the day beginning to build, but the thought of moving on, and missing it again, when possibly the bird had been seen by my wife, didn't go down too well. Eventually patience paid off and we started to get fleeting glimpses of the bird. I was firing away with the camera, but it never show enough for a decent pic. However at least I had finally seen one, and I was quite pleased.
      Later in the holiday, as seen from earlier posts, we visited Shark Valley, and bingo, as the saying goes "you waite for a bus for ages then loads come at once" and this was the case with the Purple Gallinule.

Purple Gallinule, but this it the kind of rubbish shot I was getting at Royal Palm

This is at Shark Valley, and I thought it was going to be another game of hide and seek, but then---------

It got a bit bolder, and finally came out into the sun.

Still at Shark Valley

So it was no longer a bogey bird, and we continued to enjoy good views of it in other places we visited. But the best was still to come.
       For anyone that has been following the Florida adventure, you may remember me going on (just a bit ) about Wakodahatchee, well as if to say "we know this is your last day and we want to give you something to think about when the turbulence kicks in on the plane, this is what we saw at Wakodahatchee------------

Not one, but two Purple Gallinules, with a displaying male.

What a way to say good-by to Florida

Thank you my friends for allowing me the pleasure.

My Daughter has a couple of bird pics, she has promised to share with me, so there may be one or two more Florida birds to show , with her kind permission.
       Hope you have enjoyed, thank you for looking in.