Common Moorhen

Gallinula chloropus (Linnaeus, 1758)

30–38 cmLength52 cmWingspan340 gWeight

It has a blackish-brown body, red forehead, red bill with a yellow tip, and a white patch under the tail.

Busiest months: January and March–April · Most records: United Kingdom, China, Spain

Least Concern

How to identify

Field marks

Red frontal shield on the forehead
Bill red with a yellow tip
Body blackish-brown, with white stripes on the sides
White under the tail; legs and feet yellow

Male, female and young

Juvenile more rufous, without the red frontal shield.

Voice

Gives various gurgling calls and loud hissing when threatened.

Where and when it's recorded

Common Moorhen has been recorded at 3,301 of the 8,171 birding hotspots we track, in 146 countries and regions.

Records by month Northern Hemisphere

Where it's recorded most

Amwell HMWT NRUnited Kingdom8,417 records
Titchwell Marsh RSPB ReserveUnited Kingdom7,411 records
Minsmere RSPB ReserveUnited Kingdom5,211 records

More places

Desembocadura del Guadalhorce – ÁreaSpain5,164 records
Txingudi – PlaiaundiSpain5,023 records
Beddington FarmlandsUnited Kingdom4,800 records
WWT London Wetland CentreUnited Kingdom4,257 records
Taipei – Taipei Botanical GardenTaiwan (China)4,067 records
Bharatpur – Keoladeo Ghana NPIndia4,002 records
Taipei – National Taiwan University Main CampusTaiwan (China)3,839 records

Countries and regions with the most records

United Kingdom China Spain India Portugal Israel South Africa Germany

eBird records via GBIF up to 2024-12-31. A record means someone listed it; more records partly mean more birders, not more birds.

About

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. It lives around well-vegetated marshes, ponds, canals and other wetlands.

Excerpt from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · authors · Read more on Wikipedia

Questions

How big is the Common Moorhen?

The Common Moorhen is about 30–38 cm long, with a wingspan of 52 cm and weighs around 340 g.

Where does the Common Moorhen live?

Its breeding range: Palearctic, Africa, Indian Ocean, Oriental, Pacific Ocean: widespread. It is most often recorded in United Kingdom, China and Spain.