Common Gallinule
Gallinula galeata
Also known as: Florida Gallinule · American Common Moorhen · Laughing Moorhen · American Moorhen · Laughing Gallinule
Aves
COMMON
Stats
- Lifespan
- Up to 10 yrs
- Size
- Medium
- Diet
- Omnivore
- Activity
- Diurnal
- Social
- Pair
- Biome
- Freshwater wetland
- Range
- North America
- Movement
- Swimming
- Breeding
- Egg-laying
- Defense
- Camouflage
- Status
- Common
About
A chicken-sized marsh bird with slate-black plumage, a red-and-yellow bill, and a bright red frontal shield, the Common Gallinule uses its long, unwebbed toes to walk across lily pads and floating vegetation without sinking. It was split from the Old World Common Moorhen as its own species by the American Ornithologists' Union in 2011.
Life cycle
- 1.eggA clutch of eggs is incubated in the nest, kept warm by a brooding parent until the chicks pip free.
- 2.hatchlingA naked or downy hatchling is fed in the nest by its parents.
- 3.juvenileA feathered juvenile fledges from the nest and learns to fly and forage.
- 4.adultFully grown with adult plumage.
Learn more
Taxonomy
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Gruiformes
- Family
- Rallidae
- Genus
- Gallinula
- Species
- Gallinula galeata