Thecommon moorhen (Gallinula chloropus), also known as thewaterhen, is a bird species in therail family (Rallidae). It is distributed across many parts of theOld World, across Africa, Europe, and Asia.[1] It lives around well-vegetated marshes, ponds, canals and other wetlands.[1] The species is not found in thepolar regions or manytropical rainforests; generally it is one of the most common Old World rail species, together with theEurasian coot in some regions.
The closely relatedcommon gallinuleG. galeata of theNew World, and thetristan moorhenG. nesiotis andgough moorhenG. comeri of theTristan da Cunha archipelago, formerly often regarded as conspecific, are now treated as a separate species by all the ornithological authorities,[6] following the discovery of significant genetic differences in addition to differences in the structure of the red bill shield and vocal differences.[7][8][9] The final species in the genus, thedusky moorhenG. tenebrosa ofAustralasia, has also been considered conspecific by some authors in the past.[10]
The namemor-hen has been recorded inEnglish since the 13th century.[11] The wordmoor here is in its old sense meaningmarsh;[11] the species is not usually found in what is now calledmoorland. Another old name, waterhen, is more descriptive of the bird'shabitat.[11] A "watercock" is not a male "waterhen" but the rail speciesGallicrex cinerea, not closely related to the common moorhen. "Water rail" usually refers toRallus aquaticus, again not closely related.
Common moorhen feet have no webbing.Juvenile common moorhen photographed from above, displaying the juvenile brown plumage.The bill turns bright red with a yellow tip during the breeding season.
The moorhen is a distinctive species, with predominantly black and brown plumage, with the exception of a white under-tail, white streaks on the flanks, yellow legs and a redfrontal shield. The bill is red with a yellow tip. The young are browner and lack the red shield. The frontal shield of the adult has a rounded top and fairly parallel sides; the tailward margin of the red unfeathered area is a smooth waving line. ThesubspeciesG. c. meridionalis is smaller than thenominate, has slaty blue-grey upperwingcoverts and lacks the olive wash. SubspeciesG. c. orientalis is similar toG. c. meridionalis but has a larger shield. SubspeciesG. c. pyrrhorrhoa is darker than the nominate; subspeciesG. c. pyrrhorrhoa has buffundertail coverts.[10] In the relatedcommon gallinule (Gallinula galeata) of the Americas, the frontal shield has a fairly straight top and is less wide towards the bill, giving a marked indentation to the back margin of the red area.
The common moorhen gives a wide range of gargling calls and will emit loud hisses when threatened.[12] A midsized to large rail, it can range from 30 to 38 cm (12 to 15 in) in length and span 50 to 62 cm (20 to 24 in) across the wings. The body mass of this species can range from 192 to 500 g (6+3⁄4 to17+3⁄4 oz).[13][14]
This is a common breeding and resident bird in marsh environments, rivers, well-vegetated lakes and even in city parks. Populations in areas where the waters freeze, such as eastern Europe,migrate to more temperate climates. In China, common moorhen populations are largely resident south of the Yangtze River, whilst northern populations migrate in the winter; these populations show high genetic diversity.[15]
This species will consume a wide variety of vegetable material and small aquatic creatures. They forage beside or in the water, sometimes walking on lilypads or upending in the water to feed. They are often secretive, but can become tame in some areas. Despite loss of habitat in parts of its range, the common moorhen remains plentiful and widespread.
The birds are territorial during breeding season, and will fight with other members of their species, as well as other water birds such asducks, to drive them out of their territory. The nest is a basket built on the ground in dense vegetation. Laying starts in spring, between mid-March and mid-May in Northern hemisphere temperate regions. About 8 eggs are usually laid per female early in the season; a brood later in the year usually has only 5–8 or fewer eggs. Nests may be re-used by different females. Incubation lasts about three weeks. Both parentsincubate and feed the young. These fledge after 40–50 days, become independent usually a few weeks thereafter, and may raise their first brood the next spring. When threatened, the young may cling to the parents' body, after which the adult birds fly away to safety, carrying their offspring with them.[12][16]
Common moorhens are known to partake in both intraspecific and interspecific parasitism, meaning they will lay their eggs in the nests of other moorhens as well as other species. The frequency of the former increases when there are an insufficient number of nesting sites, while the causes for the latter are relatively unknown. There is no one specific species that is the target of their interspecific paratisism, as moorhen eggs have been discovered in the nests ofcommon coots,grey partridges, mallards, and several other species.[17]
On a global scale (all subspecies taken together) the common moorhen is as abundant, as its vernacular name implies. It is therefore considered a species ofLeast Concern by theIUCN.[1] However, small populations may be prone toextinction. The population ofPalau, belonging to the widespread subspeciesG. c. orientalis and locally known asdebar (a generic term also used forducks and meaning roughly "waterfowl"), is very rare, and apparently the birds are hunted by locals. Most of the population on thearchipelago occurs onAngaur andPeleliu, while the species is probably already gone fromKoror. In theLake Ngardok wetlands ofBabeldaob, a few dozen still occur, but the total number of common moorhens on Palau is about in the same region as the Guam population: fewer than 100 adult birds (usually fewer than 50) have been encountered in any survey.[18]
Other localised groups of common moorhen are starting to come under threat. TheRoyal Society for the Protection of Birds in theUnited Kingdom has the common moorhen classified as one of its 103 species whose conservation status is of moderate concern[19] due to its recent population decine. The number of breeding pairs has fallen to its lowest level in the UK since 1966[20] and has been protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act (1981).
The common moorhen is one of the birds (the other is theEurasian coot,Fulica atra) from which thecyclocoelidflatworm parasiteCyclocoelum mutabile was first described.[21] The bird is also parasitised by themoorhen fleaDasypsyllus gallinulae.[22]
Fivesubspecies are today considered valid; several more have been described that are now consideredjunior synonyms. Most are not very readily identifiable, as differences are subtle and oftenclinal. Usually, the location of a sighting is the most reliable indication as to subspecies identification, but the migratory tendencies of the species make identifications based on location not completely reliable. In addition to the extant subspecies listed below, an undescribed form from theEarly Pleistocene is recorded from Dursunlu inTurkey.[23][24][25]
List of subspecies by date of description
Common and trinomial names
Description
Range
Eurasian common moorhen G. c. chloropus(Linnaeus, 1758) IncludesG. c. correiana andG. c. indica.
Indo-Pacific common moorhen G. c. orientalis(Horsfield, 1821)
Small, with slate grey upperwing coverts and large frontal shield.
Found in theSeychelles,Andaman Islands, and South Malaysia throughIndonesia; also found in thePhilippines andPalau. The breeding population existing onYap inMicronesia since the 1980s is probably of this subspecies, but might be of the rareG. c. guami.[26][27] Population size: Perhaps a few 100s on Palau as of the early 2000s,[18] less than 100 on Yap as of the early 2000s.[26][27]
African common moorhen G. c. meridionalis(C. L. Brehm, 1831)
Similar toG. c. orientalis, but the frontal shield is smaller.
Abdul hamid II, the then-Sultan of theOttoman Empire, was known to have a special interest in the moorhen, which was found in almost all bodies of freshwater in the land which now constitutes Turkey. So much so that over fifty moorhens were recorded to have been kept and raised in theYildiz Palace.[30]
^abSnow, David W.; Perrins, Christopher M.; Doherty, Paul; Cramp, Stanley (1998).The Complete Birds of the Western Palaearctic on CD-ROM. Oxford University Press.ISBN0-19-268579-1.
^Ruan, L.; Xu, W.; Han, Y.; Zhu, C.; Guan, B.; Xu, C.; Goa, B.; Zhao, D. (2018). "Gene flow from multiple sources maintains high genetic diversity and stable population history of Common MoorhenGallinula chloropus in China".Ibis.160 (4):855–869.doi:10.1111/ibi.12579.
^abWiles, Gary J.; Johnson, Nathan C.; de Cruz, Justine B.; Dutson, Guy; Camacho, Vicente A.; Kepler, Angela Kay; Vice, Daniel S.; Garrett, Kimball L.; Kessler, Curt C.; Pratt, H. Douglas (2004)."New and Noteworthy Bird Records for Micronesia, 1986–2003".Micronesica.37 (1):69–96.
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