The Purple Swamphen (Porphyrio porphyrio) has dispersed rapidly in southern China, and been reported in northwestern Yunnan since 2000. During March 2014 to August 2015, we made field observations in the wetlands of Heqing Wetlands Yunnan Province to study the ecological adaptation of the Purple Swamphens. In our study area, the birds were mainly found in the West Caohai wetlands, and their habitats were mosaic of open water (accounted for 49.6%), water with dense vegetation coverage (39.3%) and shore land (11.1%). They appeared frequently in the habitat with open water, dense tall grasses, and lakeside grassland in the morning (7:00﹣9:00), went away from the lakeshore after noon and disappeared in the dense tall grasses in the evening (Fig. 1). The flock size of the birds was between 1 to 7, with small sizes (1 or 2birds) accounted for 62.0% of the total observations. When in larger flocks (6 or 7 birds), there was often one bird in charge of watching and guarding. The time they used for feed, rest and vigilance accounted for 47.8%, 23.5% and 23.5%, respectively (Fig. 2). The Purple Swamphens often drove other water birds when the latter were close to them, implying the protection of their territory. Being approached by researchers, the average vigilance, avoidance and flush distances of the Purple Swamphens were 26.4 m, 20.5 m and 17.6 m (n = 20), respectively. The birds might adopt an ecological strategy of avoidance and escape to deal with the human disturbances and habitat stresses. Human disturbances, such as farming, grazing, weeding and wetland construction are very frequent in Heqing wetland areas, legislative protection for Purple Swamphen should be considered.