Eurasian Moorhen
Gallinula chloropus
Summary 4
The Common Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus) (also known as the "swamp chicken") is bird species in the Rallidae family. It is distributed across many parts of the Old World.
Geographic range 5
Common moorhens are widely distributed. In the United States, they are found year-round in California, Arizona, New Mexico and the Atlantic and Gulf coast states. They migrate and breed in the eastern half of the United States during the summer. They are also found throughout Mexico and Central America. The Common Moorhen is also found in South America, its range cutting through the middle of the continent from Brazil to Argentina and Peru. This species is also found year-round throughout Europe except Northern Scandinavia. From Europe it is migratory into Russia during the summer months. It is found also in India and the southern half of Asia south to the Philippine Islands. In Africa this species is only found in the area of South Africa, Madagascar, a large section of the Congo and Algeria.
Biogeographic Regions: nearctic (Native ); palearctic (Native ); oriental (Native ); ethiopian (Native ); neotropical (Native )
Habitat 6
Common moorhens are found in many aquatic environments- man-made or natural, and in still or moving water. This species is partial to emergent aquatic vegetation which gives it adequate shelter. They are generally found in lowlands, up to 4575 m on passage though Nepal.
Range elevation: 0 to 4575 m.
Habitat Regions: temperate ; terrestrial ; freshwater
Aquatic Biomes: lakes and ponds; rivers and streams
Wetlands: marsh ; swamp
Other Habitat Features: urban ; suburban ; agricultural ; riparian
Sources and Credits
- (c) Valter Jacinto | Portugal, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://www.flickr.com/photos/valter/291798016/
- (c) Dario Sanches, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://www.flickr.com/photos/dariosanches/3388061709/
- (c) Arthur Chapman, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://www.flickr.com/photos/arthur_chapman/3247305242/
- Adapted by Jaishneel Raj from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallinula_chloropus
- (c) The Regents of the University of Michigan and its licensors, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/25064934
- (c) The Regents of the University of Michigan and its licensors, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/18648835
