Moorhen

Moorhen

The Moorhen is a gruiform bird in the Rallidae family. One of the most common waterbirds in several parts of Brazil, it is scarce in the Amazon rainforest and, surprisingly, it is not very frequent in the Pantanal. Also known as woodcock (Rio Grande do Sul), jaçanã-gallo (Northeast), busty (Rio de Janeiro) and water chicken. Formerly treated as a subspecies of Gallinula chloropus, from the Old World.

Scientific name

Its scientific name means: from (Latin) gallinula = diminutive of gallina = small chicken; and from (Latin) galea, galeatus = helmet, Roman helmet. ⇒ Small chicken with helmet.

Features

All dark gray, from a distance looking black, with a series of wide white lines below the closed wing. Under the tail, white area. On the head, a large red frontal shield joins the bare red skin at the base of the bill, which is yellow and only the tip is visible. Yellowish legs and feet. Next to the body, the leg is reddish. His vocalization is a high-pitched “kürrrk”, strident “ki-ki”