Water bird with a feisty character and a flash of red
With its distinctive colouring and awkward limbs, the moorhen shows its determined nature during spring’s breeding season
“Where reed clumps rustle like a wind shook wood Where from her hiding place the Moor Hen pushes And seeks her flag nest floating in bull rushes”
John Clare, ‘I Love to See the Summer’
IT IS A FINE SPRING morning, and near a stand of emergent plants along the edge of a canal, a family of moorhens has taken to the water. The tiny offspring, black in colour and adorably fluffy, swim close behind their parents, who keep a watchful eye out for the slightest hint of danger during this first family excursion. These chicks are just days old, and their nest lies close by: a raft-like structure hidden among the vegetation. They will not travel too far from it today.
The moorhen is a familiar sight in lakes, ponds and rivers, both in towns and countryside, and they are common wherever the combination of freshwater and reasonably dense waterside vegetation meet; so much so, that this endearing little water bird is in danger of being taken for granted, which would be a great shame for a species with such interesting behaviour.
The moorhen, Gallinula chloropus, is a member of the rail family, which also includes crakes and coots. It is a small bird of 13-14in (32-35cm) in length, with a weight of 11-14oz (300-400g). While it might appear black at a distance, seen close up, the plumage on the back of the bird and its wings are a dark brown in colour. The flanks are striped in creamy-white, and the under-feathers of the tail are also white. But the most distinctive feature is the frontal shield: a fleshy, bright red area on the moorhen’s forehead. This red colour extends into the bill, which ends in a golden-yellow tip. The eye is also red.
The long legs are yellowish-green, and closer examination reveals a thin red ‘garter’ line near the top. The legs end in
a pair of large, flat feet, with long, splayed toes, which are not webbed like those of ducks, but lobed. These enable the moorhen to negotiate reeds and other waterside plant life, and to move around on mud and soft ground to find food, with the fleshy lobes helping them to paddle when they are back out on the water.
Even so, the swimming action of the moorhen is quite unusual, each stroke with its feet through the water being accompanied by an exaggerated forward bob of the head, giving the overall impression that the bird is finding it all rather hard work.
Flicking tails
Something that moorhens do with alacrity is to flick their brilliant white under-tails. Sometimes they do this to signal to other moorhens; indeed, turning their back and lifting the tail is an aggressive act. However, it has been shown that rearend flicking has a different reader of the signal in mind: the predator. The more exposed a moorhen feels or the nearer something dangerous is, the faster the rate of uplifting its tail becomes. The moorhen is letting the predator know it is alert, healthy and ready to flee if necessary.
Moorhens signal their health in other ways too. The brighter the colours of the bill, the healthier the bird, which can be useful information in the breeding season. Another signal of fitness is the size of the frontal shield, and in a winter flock, those with larger shields are dominant over those less well-endowed.
Moorhens are omnivores, their diet including aquatic plants, fruit and berries, seeds, snails and insects, and even small fish. They rarely dive for food, preferring to pick from the water surface while swimming.
Out of the water
While these may seem like rather sedentary birds, they do take to the air, often under cover of darkness, searching the area for new bodies of water. Their flight may look awkward and laboured, particularly when they take off, with much
spluttering and fuss, but these birds are perfectly capable of significant flights, such as over the English Channel or North Sea, which they also make at night. While British birds are residents and tend to stay put, others from north-west Europe will overwinter in the UK. During the winter, moorhens live in loose flocks of anywhere between single figures and 30 birds, but in favourable habitats, such as a densely vegetated canal, birds will remain on a territory all year.
Surprisingly to some, it is not unusual to find a moorhen up in a tree, especially at night, as the branches provide a place of safety in which to roost. They will occasionally nest in trees, and in the autumn and winter, they will also take berries and rose hips, even competing for them with blackbirds and greenfinches. Moorhens are able to climb rather well, due to the lack of webbing between their toes, and they will often pull down a low-hanging branch with their oversized feet in order to begin their climb.
Breeding behaviour
In spring, the breeding season gets under way. Fights will break out among both males and females, in which rivals clash breast-to-breast, kicking each other and, if they are floating, making a lot of splashing. While it may not look particularly serious, such spats can last a long time, and birds will sometimes attempt to drown one another.
Once a pair forms, they will set about building the nest. This is comprised of twigs and vegetation, and the result is quite a bulky, open platform, which is built among emergent plants or occasionally on the ground near the water’s edge. It is defended by both adults with ferocity. The eggs are grey-white with brown speckles and there are usually anywhere from five to 11 in a clutch. The incubation is usually shared by both parents and takes approximately three weeks. The young are precocial, meaning they are
born in an advanced state, and are ready to leave the nest and take to the water within a few days of hatching.
The tiny, fluffy black chicks are approximately the size of a golf ball, and with feet that appear huge for their size. They dart around their parents at rapid speed, the adults issuing warning clucks to call them close at the first sight of danger. This can come from both above and below the water surface, with cats, mink, otters and pike among the many potential threats. It takes six to seven weeks for the youngsters to fledge. Juveniles are brown in colour and lack the frontal shield and brightly coloured bill of the adults.
However, the moorhen’s breeding behaviour is not entirely straightforward. These birds are not averse to practising cuckoo-like brood parasitism, frequently laying additional eggs in the nests of neighbouring moorhens. Putting up eggs for ‘adoption’ is a great way to boost productivity, and it often works well. Females are also known to lay eggs in the nests of other species, such as coots.
There is also a degree of nest- and mate-sharing. Two females will sometimes use the same nest, each contributing to the clutch. In such a system, it is apparently common for both females to be inseminated by the same male. These females are sometimes mother and daughter, with the attendant male being the younger female’s father.
Moorhens will often have more than one brood in a year, and when this happens, a pair will appreciate having some extra help in feeding the next set of chicks. Siblings from the earlier clutch will frequently chip in, helping with incubation of the eggs, repairs and refurbishment to the nest, and feeding the new brood. This relieves the burden on the adult birds and gives the youngsters some experience ready for their own breeding attempts the following year. This co-operative breeding is not always limited to family members; sometimes complete strangers help out, too.
The lifespan of a moorhen is fairly short, and due to the ever-present danger posed by predators, many will not make it through their first year. The average age is approximately three years, although some birds will live longer.
While it is more scarce in northern Scotland, the uplands of Wales and northern England, the moorhen occurs throughout Europe, and it is also found in the Americas, Africa and Asia. This is an adaptable and interesting little water bird, and one that should not be overlooked just because it is such a familiar one.