Click photo to see complete painting

Common Moorhen

Status Uncommon transient, rare and local in summer. Breeds. The "Water Hen" of Haliburton (1825) could be this species or the American Coot, but Gilpin's (1882b) report of one taken near Halifax on 23 May 1880 is the earliest reliable reference. Although there were only about a dozen records prior to 1960, it has been reported regularly since. In Nova Scotia, at the fringes of its range, it arrives rather late (average 12 May, earliest 4 April). It is most widespread and frequent in autumn; away from its localized nesting areas, most have occurred in October. One arrived on Sable Island as early as 19 August 1966, and a very late bird was found during the Halifax East Christmas Bird Count on 27 December 1980.

Description Length: 30-37 cm. Adults: An almost evenly slate-coloured bird; darker on the head, becoming brownish olive on back and slightly lighter below; conspicuous white flank streaks and white edging under tail; bill and frontal plate bright red, the bill with a greenish yellow tip; legs with red "garters" just below the feathering; toes long and without scallop-shaped lobes.

Breeding Nest: A bulky mound composed of reeds and rushes, placed in thick vegetation in or at the edge of shallow water. Eggs: 6-17, buff irregularly marked with fine, dark brown speckling. Two broods of young in the Amherst Point Bird Sanctuary in summer 1976 (C. Desplanque) were the first firm evidence of nesting. Since then, one to four broods have been seen there in most summers, and two nests were found by Mark Forbes in 1982. It now nests regularly near the New Brunswick border and a few summer reports from the Northumberland Strait area and from Kings and Halifax counties suggest it may nest elsewhere.

Range In North America it breeds from central California, Arizona, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Minnesota, southern Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick, south to Baja California and the Gulf States. Winters from southern United States southward. It is also found in Europe, Asia, Africa, South America, the West Indies and other parts of the world.

Remarks These large members of the rail family are far less elusive than their smaller relatives. They spend more time in the open, about the water edges of the marshes in which they live. It is not unusual for them to swim on shallow, open ponds in the manner of coots, which they closely resemble. The species was formerly known as the "Common Gallinule" or "Florida Gallinule."