Description:

Medium-sized gallinule, appearing essentially black at distance, with prominent yellow-tipped red bill. Breeding adult has blackish head and neck, slate-grey underparts, and dark olive-brown upperparts. Non-breeding adult has duller bill and legs. Juvenile has dull green bill, and is mainly brown with whitish throat, grey wash to breast and flanks.

Distribution:

Common passage migrant and summer visitor all across Gilgit-Baltistan, rare in north-east. Usually prefers lakes, marshes and irrigation tanks; standing freshwater with fringing emergent vegetation. From lowlands up to 3000m.

Behavior:

Feeds while swimming and while walking on floating vegetation, either in cover or in open. In water, obtains food by dipping head, surface sifting, upending and rarely by diving. Omnivorous; proportions of plant and animal food vary. Feeds on land, grazing and gleaning over open grass or in arable farmland, usually near cover.

Photo Gallery:

Range & Occurrence:

Resident Species

Summer Breeder

Winter Visitor

Passage Migrant

Distribution Map of Common Moorhen in Gilgit-Baltistan (Status: )

Seasonal Occurrence of Common Moorhen

Resources:

Birds of Pakistan: Helm Field Guides (R. Grimmett & T. Inskipp)
The Birds of Pakistan (T. J. Roberts)
Birds of the Indian Subcontinent (C. Inskipp, R. Grimmett & T. Inskipp)
Birds of South Asia: The Ripley Guide (P. Rasmussen & J. Anderton)
Birds of India: Collins Field Guide (N. Arlott)
Handbook of the Birds of India and Pakistan (S. Ali & S. D. Ripley)
Handbook of the Birds of the World (https://www.hbw.com)
The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World, 6th Edition
iNaturalist BoGB (inaturalist.org/projects/birds-of-gilgit-baltistan)
Birds of Gilgit-Baltistan (http://fb.me/birdsgb)

*Gallery images on this page are shared from flickr.com, and are copyrighted to their respective creators or owners.