Common Moorhen Gallinula chloropus chloropus
UK. Various dates

As its colloquial name suggests this is a common breeding bird of marshy environments and lakes with plenty of bankside undergrowth. It is sometimes a secretive bird, scurrying back into cover when disturbed, but most birders (and many non-birders) will know them as being quite tame in many areas (to the extent of walking around picnic-tables like small dark chickens at wetland reserves in the UK!). Common Moorhens consume a wide variety of vegetable material and small aquatic creatures. They forage both while swimming, picking matter from the water surface or sometimes upending to feed, or while walking through a marsh. In northern regions where lakes and ponds freeze over in winter closing off their food source (eg southern Canada, the northern USA and eastern Europe) populations migrate to more temperate climes and open waters.

This is a relatively distinctive species: adults are mainly dark apart from the white flank line, white undertail, yellow legs and red frontal shield - all of which differentiate Moorhens from Common and American Coots, the ‘other dark waterbird’ often found in the same habitats as moorhens and which (in the UK anyway) are all dark with white frontal shields. As the photos below show juvenile Moorhen are browner and lack the red shield and have less well saturated soft parts.

Adult with chicks, London, UK. July 2008

 

Juvenile, London, UK. July 2008

 

Juvenile, London, UK. July 2008

 

 

Non-breeding adult Chew Valley, Somerset, UK. Nov 2007

 

Adult, London, UK. July 2008

 

Adult, London, UK. July 2008

About a dozen subspecies are considered valid, but most are not identifiable in the field as differences are rather subtle and often clinal, and the migratory tendencies of this species make identifications based on location unreliable. Apparently Old World Common Moorhens have a frontal shield with rounded top and fairly parallel sides, the tailward margin of the red unfeathered area is a smooth waving line; whereas American birds have a frontal shield that has a fairly straight top and is less wide towards the bill, giving a marked indentation to the back margin of the red area. Despite seeing thousands of Moorhens I have got admit to not testing this out for myself..more photos needed I guess…

For comparison: Black Coot, Chew Valley, UK. Nov 2007

All photographs copyright Charlie Moores.

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