Common moorhen

Introduction: Common moorhens (Gallinula chloropus) can be found in almost any habitat with water, including marshes, ponds, pans, swamps streams, canals, dams, lakes, flooded grassland. They can often be observed in pairs or small family groups, swimming in open water.

Distribution: Common (wOrange Riverdwide) throughout the country, but absent from Kalahari Desert in eastern Namibia.

Diet: Water plants, berries, spiders, worms, tadpoles and commercial poultry. Also eats flowers, seeds or cereal crops, small fish and birds' eggs.

Description: Medium-sized, long-winged birds with a dark brown or blackish plumage, short bills and brightly coloured feet and legs. Chloropus is Latin for green foot.

Breeding: Nests are a shallow bowl made from plant stems, well-concealed in reeds or bulrushes. Females lay between 4 and 9 eggs.

Size: 35cm.

Weight: 345g.