Watercock

How to identify

Field marks

1. Adult male's feathers mainly blackish-gray
2. Male has a red-and-yellow bill and red frontal shield and horn
3. Toes long, tail short

Male, female and young

Female smaller, with dark brown upperparts and paler underparts, dark stripes and spots on the feathers, a yellow bill and green legs and feet; young male pale brown, with a yellow bill and green legs and feet.

Voice

Very noisy, especially at dawn and dusk, with loud calls resembling gulping.

Where and when it's recorded

Watercock has been recorded at 380 of the 8,171 birding hotspots we track, in 22 countries and regions.

Records by month Northern Hemisphere

Where it's recorded most

1. Krishnampathi Lake, SeeranaickenpalayamIndia584 records
2. Matara – Kirala Kele SanctuarySri Lanka385 records
3. Changaram Wetlands – EzhupunnaIndia331 records

Countries and regions with the most records

IndiaSri LankaCambodiaSingaporeMalaysiaPhilippinesChinaLaos

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 watercock (Gallicrex cinerea) is a waterbird in the rail and crake family, Rallidae that is widely distributed across Southeast Asia. It is the only member of the genus Gallicrex.

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

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