Dusky Moorhen
Gallinula tenebrosa
The Dusky Moorhen (Gallinula tenebrosa) is a common rails, gallinules, and coot found in 6 countries, weighing about 530 g. The dusky moorhen is a bird species in the rail family and is one of the eight extant species in the moorhen genus.
About the Dusky Moorhen
The dusky moorhen is a bird species in the rail family and is one of the eight extant species in the moorhen genus. It occurs in Australia, New Guinea, Borneo and Indonesia. It is often confused with the purple swamphen and the Eurasian coot due to similar appearance and overlapping distributions. They often live alongside birds in the same genus, such as the Tasmanian nativehen and the common moorhen.
Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
How to identify it
The dusky moorhen is a medium-sized bird, slightly smaller than the purple swamphen. The New Guinea birds are smaller, at 25–32 centimetres (9.8–12.6 in) in length, than the Australian race 34–38 centimetres (13–15 in). Adult males generally weigh on average around 570 grams and adult females 493 grams. The adult dusky moorhen is mainly dark grey-black, with a browner tinge to the upper parts. It has a red frontal shield and yellow-tipped red bill like its Eurasian relative, but lacks the white flank line shown by common moorhen, and has orange-yellow rather than yellow legs. Voice: The territorial call is a loud kurk or krik, which may be repeated or run together, sounding like kurruk-uk. This call is taken up by birds in surrounding territories and can be heard from over two kilometres away. The birds also make a series of short, sharp squawks and squeaks as alarm calls. Swimming and preening birds may make a series of short, stacatto, widely spaced noises.
Where it lives
Recorded as a rare visitor in France.
When to see it
The Dusky Moorhen can be seen all year round, with peak activity in October. It is a resident species across most of its range.
Easily confused with
Quick questions
- How do you identify a Dusky Moorhen?
- The dusky moorhen is a medium-sized bird, slightly smaller than the purple swamphen. Full identification notes are on this page.
- How big is a Dusky Moorhen?
- The Dusky Moorhen is a large sized bird weighing about 530 g.
- Where can you see a Dusky Moorhen?
- The Dusky Moorhen occurs in 6 countries, including Australia, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, New Caledonia and Timor-Leste.
- What birds look similar to a Dusky Moorhen?
- The Dusky Moorhen is most easily confused with the Common Moorhen.
- Is the Dusky Moorhen endangered?
- The Dusky Moorhen is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.
Learn the Dusky Moorhen for real
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