Quantcast

Common Moorhen

Gallinula chloropusOrder: GRUIFORMESFamily: Rails and Coots (Rallidae)
Common Moorhen Head Illustration

Head

  • Bill Shape: All-purpose
  • Eye Color: Cinnamon brown to maroon brown.
  • Head Pattern: Plain, Special (unique patterns or features)
  • Crown Color: Black
  • Forehead Color: Red
  • Nape Color: Black
  • Throat Color: Black
  • Cere color: Red
Common Moorhen Body Illustration

Body

  • Length Range: 33-38 cm (13-15 in)
  • Weight: 340 g (12 oz)
  • Size: Size 3. Medium (9 - 16 in)
  • Color: Red, Black, Gray
  • Underparts: Black with white flanks.
  • Upperparts: Gray
  • Back Pattern: Solid
  • Belly Pattern: Solid
  • Breast Pattern: Solid
Common Moorhen Flight Illustration

Flight

  • Flight Pattern: Swift strong direct flight.
  • Wingspan Range: 51-58 cm (20-23 in)
  • Wing Shape: Pointed-Wings
  • Tail Shape: Pointed Tail
  • Tail Pattern: Solid
  • Upper Tail: Black
  • Under Tail: White
  • Leg Color: Yellow Green
.
Bird database and its related content, illustrations and media is Copyright © 2002 - 2007  Whatbird.com
All rights reserved. No part of this web site may be reproduced without written permission from Mitch Waite Group.
 Privacy Policy.
Percevia® Registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.
Family Coot (Rallidae)_blue
Species Gallinula chloropus
Length13 - 15 Inches
Wingspan21.5 Inches

Common Moorhen

Common Moorhen: Medium, chicken-like marsh bird with gray-brown back and slate-gray head, neck, breast, and belly. Upper flanks show distinct white line. Yellow-tipped red bill is short with red frontal plate extending onto forehead. Tail is white below. Long legs and unwebbed feet are yellow-green.

● Song: "kup"

● Foraging & Feeding: Common Moorhen: Feeds on freshwater plants, seeds, and small invertebrates. Forages while swimming or and walking in shallows or atop floating vegetation; active day and night. Swallows sand and gravel to help grind food.

● Breeding & nesting: Common Moorhen: Two to thirteen buff eggs with red brown or olive spots are laid in a well-rimmed cup nest constructed of dead vegetation and lined with grass and leaves. Nest is usually located over the water and anchored to stems of emergent vegetation, but is occasionally built on the ground or in a low shrub. Both parents incubate the eggs for 18 to 21 days.

● Similar species: Common Moorhen: American Coot is darker, has pale bill, and lacks white line on flanks.

Flight Pattern

Swift strong direct flight.
Common Moorhen Body Illustration
● Range & Habitat: Common Moorhen: Breeds over much of North America through Central America and northern South America. Spends winters from the southern Atlantic states to South America. Prefers habitat with large areas of open water; common near reservoirs, ponds, freshwater marshes, and flooded grasslands.
BreedingMonogamous, Solitary to semicolonial
Population
MigrationSome migrate
Weight12 Ounces