You may have noticed an abundance of waterbirds that are neither ducks or swans at your local pond. The reason for this is that it’s moorhen baby season! We had some early on in the year but maybe the cold British spring meant that most chicks are born later than they used to be. Moorhens are the odd black birds that have shocking tendency to run across water. While there is several different species around the world, the ones we see in UK are Common Moorhens, Gallinula chloropus. They are shy reserved birds. If you’ve ever fed the ducks at your pond, you may notice these black hens with the red heads at the outskirts of the pond, darting in for a bite but never moving too close.
These waterbirds have adapted to living on water in almost any environment within the UK. You will find them in countryside water ditches and you will find them in park ponds within a busy city. They are most recognised by their red heads, yellow beaks and mainly black feathers. If you are close enough, you will see that there are some browner feathers on the back and a few white stripes. Their most endearing features will be those long powerful black/brown/yellow legs. Ever seen a moorhen run? They are fast.
Chicks are mainly fluffy black, very small wings and dark legs that look too big for the body.
Most of the time, you will see moorhens looking for food. This is more noticeable during nesting season where they have chicks to feed. Their diet consists of vegetation, other birds eggs, worms and insects.
Moorhens appear to have a rather skittish, nervous behaviour. They are often shy and will run away when you are too close. However, moorhens are not afraid to swim around in the open so they are fairly easy to spot. Moorhens are poor fliers as their wings are short and not very strong. However, they are able to run very fast. I occasionally see moorhen chicks running on water and lily pads at my local ponds.
Moorhens exhibit aggressive behaviour during nesting season. Where the male moorhen will sit on the eggs, the female moorhen will defend the nest site and you may occasionally see females fighting. Moorhens lay many eggs at a time, however, eggs and chicks are often preyed upon by gulls, herons, other water birds, foxes and cats. Perhaps this is why moorhens can have many broods per year. One interesting behaviour that might be unique to moorhens is that juvenile moorhens from previous broods occasionally take up babysitting duties. They will help feed and defend younger chicks that are the offspring of their parents. Unlike ducks, where ducklings are expected to find their own food, moorhen chicks are fed by parents and juveniles from previous broods.
Once juveniles show signs of having adult plumage, the parents will send them off.
Personally, I quite like moorhens. The ones where I live are rather shy and live in really small groups. I rarely see more than two together. Often, they hide between the reeds and if not for their calling to each other, you might not see them. Occasionally, they walk out of the pond and across the roads in our estate to find the other pond. Luckily, cars are few and slow so I’ve yet to see a road kill incident.
Just the other day though, Cookie, my cat, caught an adult moorhen and brought it into our back garden. I was able to get him to let go and the moorhen was able to escape. I tried catching it to check for injuries but it was too fast. In the end, I opened our back garden door and it ran out. I noticed Cookie had blood stains on him and judging by how ferocious he can be to other animals, I thought that the blood must have been the moorhens’. I was unable to check the bird for injuries which bothered me slightly but there is only so much I could have done without stressing the moorhen too much.
Do you have any moorhens where you live? Are they breeding? Let me know what you think of moorhens in the comment box below!
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Hi,we have a moorhen that has moved in with our 5 chickens. It has been with us for approx 6 weeks now, is this normal?
hi! I haven't heard of anything like that before! I guess the moorhen probably likes the easy food? They tend to live in rivers and ponds, being water birds so I wouldn't say it was common for one to be living amongst chickens. Does it have access to a water source? How are the chickens finding the moorhen? Also, have you noticed any injuries that may have caused this change of behaviour?
Hi, we live in mid Devon and are lucky to have a largish pond. Moorhens have lived 'with us' for more than 8 years. Each year eggs are successfully hatched and this year we have 6 black fluffy balls on stilts! Whilst I was gardening on Monday last, they appeared from the the planted grasses following Mum, with Dad at the end of the line. Off they went into the pond. They are living at the side of the water in the reeds. Mum created her nest in the reeds on the opposite side of the pond and I was lucky enough to see 6 eggs in it. As you say the creatures are very skittish, so any movement near the pond they vanish quickly. They join the other birds under the bird feeder collecting the seeds that fall. Also they use the tray half way up to get to the fat balls!! We love them!
Hi Maureen, that sounds wonderful! I moved houses not long ago and now no longer live near any moorhens which is a shame as it was such a delight to watch them before! They are so shy but I remember sitting quietly near the ponds and being rewarded for my patience when they would slowly creep back out. I do hope all 6 chicks make it to adulthood! Thank you for sharing your story.
Hi i am rajeev . Sory my english is not very good. I have rescued a moorhen from a dog. It is not able to walk or stand on its feet. Its legs are either broken or paralysed. So i put it in a wooden box with some straw in it. I am giving it pieces of bread and fruits. But i dont think it is taking food. Please tell me what should i give it to eat. How many days does a moorhen live without food
I hate Moorhens! They wreck all my growing vege's don't even think about growing tomato's... I would love to know how to kill them...! Any ideas???
The moorhen got the name that perfectly matches it,s behavior I am a exotic duck breeder with four open dams with dense water reeds and plants. Moorhens destroy nests off other waterfowl rolling eggs out with those long toes they invade these nest boxes and make nests off any plant material they can get hold off just like rats, they do kill other small ducklings.
For sure not my favourite waterbird, it is not a waterfowl it is more like a water chicken flying vulture meat eating dragon.
We have a river at the bottom of our garden - about 200 ft away. We currently have a "resident" moorhen who is usually in the part of our garden nearest the house. It's behaving quite oddly - flying into trees/bushes and always seems to be pecking around. It's currently in an acacia tree about 20ft up! We love the wildlife!
Moorhens are becoming a pest in our riverside garden. We are trying to sow a wildflower meadow but they eat every seed they can find. They fly up onto our bird tables and demolish everything they can find. they are definitely putting off the small garden birds.
Hello, we live in Sarasota, Florida and I made the mistake of feeding a moorhen family some bread a couple of times. They primarily circle the small lake behind our house foraging but now that I fed them, they frequently loiter outside the door to our lanai. In fact, I'm surprised they haven't followed me to the grocery store. For the record, I really like them and the chicks are very cute. Right now, it is the two parents and three chicks who are probably about ready to take off on their own. Wikipedia describes them as "opportunistic feeders"; they have no idea...
In India Moorhen are completely destroying my rice fields. They are picking single plant and than chew between stem and leaves. We all farmers tired from this destroyer bird. Could any body help me to find out a solution to catch them or kill them.
We live in a caravan close to a river ( 4ft ) in County Durham England, we have King fisher, mallard, pintail ducks, moorhen, dippers, grey heron, blue heron, otters, weasel, tree creeper, nut hatch, great spotted woodpecker, to name a few, we have had to use google to identify them, last year we had a crane visit during migration