The common moorhen (Gallinula chloropus), also known as the waterhen, is a bird species in the rail family (Rallidae). It is distributed across many parts of the Old World, across Africa, Europe, and Asia. The common moorhen is now one of five extant species placed in the genus Gallinula that was introduced in 1760 by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson. The genus name is from Latin gallinula meaning "little hen" or "little chicken". The specific epithet chloropus combines the Ancient Greek khlōros χλωρός meaning "green" and pous (πούς) meaning "foot".

The closely related common gallinule G. galeata of the New World, and the tristan moorhen G. nesiotis and gough moorhen G. comeri of the Tristan da Cunha archipelago, formerly often regarded as conspecific, are now treated as a separate species by all the ornithological authorities, following the discovery of significant genetic differences in addition to differences in the structure of the red bill shield and vocal differences. In the related common 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.

Behaviour

Food and feeding

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.

Breeding

The birds are territorial during breeding season, and will fight with other members of their species, as well as other water birds such as ducks, 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 parents incubate 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.

Status and population

thumb|Moorhen sighted in Fangu, Corsica (France)

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 of Least Concern by the IUCN. due to its recent population decine. The number of breeding pairs has fallen to its lowest level in the UK since 1966 and has been protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act (1981).

The common moorhen is one of the birds (the other is the Eurasian coot, Fulica atra) from which the cyclocoelid flatworm parasite Cyclocoelum mutabile was first described.

In history

Abdul hamid II, the then-Sultan of the Ottoman 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 the Yildiz Palace.

Life cycle

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File:Common Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus) collecting for nest.jpg|Collecting for nest, Wolvercote, Oxfordshire

File:Common Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus) on nest.jpg|On nest, Wolvercote, Oxfordshire

File:Waterhoennest.JPG|G. c. chloropus nest with small clutch of eggs at Wilgenhoek, Deerlijk (Belgium)

File:Moorhen feeding chick.jpg|Moorhen feeding a recently hatched chick some food

File:Teichralle Jungvogel.JPG|Chick, 1–2 weeks old

File:Gallinula chloropus young.jpg|Immature G. c. chloropus, 3–4 months old, in Parc de Bercy, Paris (France)

File:Common Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus) juvenile.jpg|Juvenile, Strumpshaw Fen, Norfolk

File:Common moorhen (Gallinula chloropus) young adult.jpg|Young adult, London

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References

  • (Common) Moorhen species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds
  • Madeira Birds – Moorhen breeding in Madeira Island
  • Ageing and sexing (PDF; 5.7 MB) by Javier Blasco-Zumeta & Gerd-Michael Heinze