Moorhen

I viewed both moorhens and coots in Royal Parks in London. The moorhen reminds me of another bird, the American Coot. Coots and moorhens are related. How are they alike and different?

Moorhen

To me the major similarity are the legs and feet. I describe them as lizard like. They both are omnivores and eat plants and small animals. In addition they both have a reddish tint to their eyes. Both Moorhens and Coots can be seen in England and parts of the U.S. I have yet to see a moorhen in the US. They are also both known to hang around near ducks.

Moorhen

They do differ in some ways. Coots are more black in plumage while Moorhens have black and brownish colouring. Moorhens have a red face shield and a yellow beak, while coots have a white face shield and beak.

Did you know these birds are also known as swamp chickens? It may be because the body looks like that of a chicken. In old English they were known as morhens. In old English mor means marsh. Do you know any other birds that have interesting nicknames?

10 thoughts on “Moorhen”

    1. We used to not see coots in my area of New York, but the June with a lot of wildfires in Canada some stayed in our area all summer and into the winter. We had a lot of smoke then from the fires in Ontario I believe. I saw a lone one with several ducks on the Hudson River. Also there were a large group on a local lake.

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  5. Ah, the Moorhens, my wife and I always refer to them as chickens .. mainly because they (and the Coots) bob walk like them – I much prefer the Swamp Chicken name over the official Common Gallinule name which takes all the fun out of finding them – “Hey, look at the Swamp Chicken” will always bring a smile vs “Yeah, look at that Gal-lin-ule” which is just frustrating to say. Gotta love those feet!

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