White-breasted Waterhen

How to identify

Field marks

1. Face, neck and breast white
2. Upperparts and body sides dark gray
3. Lower belly and undertail reddish-brown
4. Bill and legs and feet yellow, with long toes and a short tail

Male, female and young

Sexes similar, with female slightly smaller; immature gray-brown in tone, chick black overall.

Voice

Often gives loud, repeated cries at dawn and dusk.

Where and when it's recorded

White-breasted Waterhen has been recorded at 1,559 of the 8,171 birding hotspots we track, in 29 countries and regions.

Records by month Northern Hemisphere

Where it's recorded most

1. Bharatpur – Keoladeo Ghana NPIndia4,108 records
2. Mai Po Nature ReserveHong Kong (China)3,813 records
3. Singapore Botanic GardensSingapore3,738 records

Countries and regions with the most records

IndiaChinaSingaporeThailandSri LankaMalaysiaPhilippinesNepal

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 white-breasted waterhen (Amaurornis phoenicurus) is a waterbird of the rail and crake family, Rallidae, that is widely distributed across South and Southeast Asia. They are somewhat bolder than most other rails and are often seen stepping slowly with their tail cocked upright in open marshes or even drains near busy roads. They are largely crepuscular in activity and during the breeding season, just after the first rains, make loud and repetitive croaking calls.

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

Questions