Common Moorhen
Gallinula chloropus
Gruiforme Order – Rallidae Family
BIOMETRICS:
Length : 30-38 cm
Wingspan: 50-55 cm
Weight: 271-339 g
DESCRIPTION:
Common Moorhen has slate-black plumage. Upperparts are brownish. We can see white stripe on flanks and white lateral undertail coverts.
PROTECTION / THREATS / STATUS:
Common Moorhen is common and widespread, despite habitat loss in some parts of its range.
Common Moorhen’s nest is often lost to flooding.
Fr: Gallinule poule d’eau
All : Teichhuhn
Esp : Gallereta Común
Ital: Sciabica
Nd: Waterhoentje
Russe: Камышница
Sd: Rörhöna
Photographers:
Alfredo Colón
Puerto Rico Wildlife
Nicole Bouglouan
PHOTOGRAPHIC RAMBLE
Text by Nicole Bouglouan
Sources:
HANDBOOK OF THE BIRDS OF THE WORLD Volume 3 by Josep del Hoyo-Andrew Elliott-Jordi Sargatal - Lynx Edicions - ISBN : 8487334202
THE HANDBOOK OF BIRD IDENTIFICATION FOR EUROPE AND THE WESTERN PALEARCTIC by Mark Beaman, Steve Madge - C.Helm - ISBN: 0713639601
THE COMPLETE BOOK OF BRITISH BIRDS – Written by “Royal Society for the Protection of Birds” experts - Préface de Magnus Magnusson - Michael Cady- Rob Hume Editors - ISBN: 0749509112
What Bird-The ultimate Bird Guide (Mitchell Waite)
Wikipedia (Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia)
The pointed bill is red with yellow tip and red frontal plate above.
The Old World birds have mostly elliptic shield, whereas the New World birds have almost squared top and broader frontal plate.
The eyes are dark red. Legs and long feet are bright yellow-green or yellow, with red-orange upper half of tibia.
Both sexes are similar, with male slightly larger than female.
The juvenile is brownish with paler throat and belly. It has dull whitish-buff stripe on flanks. Bill and legs are dusky.
Chicks are covered in black down, and have red bill with black tip.
We find several races which differ in size, colours of upperparts and size and shape of the shield.
VOICE:
Common Moorhen utters a variety of sharp calls. We can frequently hear a low, rolling “krrruck”, a sudden short “chuck”, and a sharp “kik” or “kittick”. It gives a repeated fast clucking “krek-krek-krek-krek” often in flight, and mainly at night during spring.
When they fight, the birds utter short clocking chatter.
HABITAT:
Common Moorhen lives in freshwater or brackish wetlands with fringing vegetation and brushy cover. It is found near ponds, slow rivers, marshes and lakes, and also in parks in urban areas.
RANGE:
Common Moorhen lives on all continents, except Australia and Antarctica. Birds of northern parts of the range migrate southwards in winter.
BEHAVIOUR:
Common Moorhen is a familiar waterside bird. It swims, or walks along the shore, and runs for cover.
To feed, it picks food from the surface, or from aquatic emergent vegetation. It dips the head, dabbles and may sometimes dives for food. It takes molluscs and seeds from the underside of the floating leaves.
It uses its long toes to walk on the floating vegetation and in soft mud. It does not have webbed feet, but it swims very well. While swimming, it bobs its head back and forth. Common Moorhen is active day and night.
It swallows sand and gravels to grind the vegetal food.
Courtship displays shows the male bringing water weeds to female. It also fans out its tail, in order to display the white undertail coverts. They are monogamous.
They build several nests, and once the chicks leave the nest, the others are used to sleep at night.
FLIGHT:
Common Moorhen has a swift strong direct flight and it is able to migrate long distances.
REPRODUCTION:
Common Moorhen’s nest is a wide shallow cup made with dead vegetation (stems of cattails), well rimmed and lined with grass and leaves. The nest is located in shallow water, but anchored with stems to the emergent vegetation.
Sometimes, the nest may be located on the ground, in a low shrub, or on floating vegetation.
This species often breeds in urban waters, and the nest is usually lined with paper, string, plastic and all debris found in the vicinity.
Both adults build the nest. A sloping runway allows reaching or leaving the nest. They sometimes nest in small colonies.
Female lays 6 to 10 cinnamon to olive-brown eggs, spotted with brown. Incubation lasts about 18 to 21 days by both parents. Incubation starts with the first egg laid, and up to four days separate the first from the last egg hatched.
Chicks are precocial, and fed by both adults. But young leave the nest very soon, within 2 to 3 days, and are able to feed themselves within a few days of birth. They fledge in about 5 to 7 weeks.
This species may produce more than one brood per season, reusing the same nests.
DIET:
Common Moorhen is omnivorous, and feeds on seeds, grass, rootlets and soft parts of aquatic plants that get by diving. They also eat snails, worms, crayfish, grasshoppers, insects, algae, tadpoles and berries.
