#1399 · 🐦 birds

Dusky Moorhen

🇳🇱 Zwart Waterhoen ·Gallinula tenebrosa

LCleast concern 🐦 Birds 📍 outside Europe

8 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences

what is it?

The dusky moorhen ( Gallinula tenebrosa ) is a bird species in the rail family and is one of the eight extant species in the moorhen genus. It occurs in India, Australia, New Guinea, Borneo and Indonesia. It is often confused with the purple swamphen and the Eurasian coot due to similar appearance and overlapping distributions. They often live alongside birds in the same genus, such as the Tasmanian nativehen and the common moorhen.

base stats

NL sightings 0iNaturalist, research grade
worldwide 25,116iNaturalist observations
weight 570 gadult, up to
threat LCleast concern

Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).

fun facts

No confirmed wild sightings in the Netherlands on iNaturalist: you'd have to travel for this one.
25,116 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
Weighs only about 570 g.
Scientifically named by John Gould in 1846 (180 years ago).