Common Moorhen

Gallinula chloropus

The common moorhen, also known as the waterhen, is a bird species in the rail family (Rallidae). It is distributed across many parts of the Old World, across Africa, Europe, and Asia. It lives around well-vegetated marshes, ponds, canals and other wetlands. The species is not found in the polar regions or many tropical rainforests; generally it is one of the most common Old World rail species, together with the Eurasian coot in some regions. Source

Where it is now

In the last 8 weeks this bird was recorded 375,107 times across 113 areas (each area is a 5 degree square).

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Movement and weather

Each season it is first heard regularly where daytime highs are around 22°C (typically 19 to 29°C, from 16 areas).

Over the weeks it was present in the past year, its centre in Europe ranged from 48°N in March to 61°N in February, about 1,400 km apart.

Arrival dates

The week it was first heard regularly in each region, after at least six weeks away. Dates differ from south to north, so a region has a range.

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Figures are effort corrected and come from automatic sound identification, which makes mistakes. How this is measured and how it compares with human observers.