Common Moorhen

Gallinula chloropus

Rails, Gallinules, and Coots (Rallidae) · Gruiformes (Gruiformes)

eBird · Birds of the World

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Often mixed up with

In quizzes, players most often confuse Common Moorhen with these birds— either this species was picked by mistake, or the other way around.

Species	Mix-ups
Eurasian Coot Fulica atra How to tell them apart	33
Water Rail Rallus aquaticus How to tell them apart	17
Western Swamphen Porphyrio porphyrio How to tell them apart	8
Little Crake Zapornia parva How to tell them apart	5
Corncrake Crex crex How to tell them apart	4

Family

Rails (avian family Rallidae) are a large, cosmopolitan family of small- to medium-sized terrestrial or semi-amphibious birds. The family exhibits considerable diversity in its forms, and includes such ubiquitous species as the crakes, coots, and gallinules; other rail species are extremely rare or endangered. Many are associated with wetland habitats, some being semi-aquatic like waterfowl (such as the coot), but many more are wading birds or shorebirds.

Order

The Gruiformes are an order containing a considerable number of living and extinct bird families, with a widespread geographical diversity. Gruiform means 'crane form'. Traditionally, a number of wading and terrestrial bird families that did not seem to belong to any other order were classified together as Gruiformes.

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