Common Moorhen
Gallinula chloropus
LCLeast Concern
- Family
- Rails, Gallinules, and Coots (Rallidae)
- Order
- Gruiformes
Overview
The common moorhen (Gallinula chloropus), 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.
Summary from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Range and habitat
Continents
Countries
- Afghanistan
- Albania
- Algeria
- Angola
- Armenia
- Austria
- Azerbaijan
- Bahrain
- Bangladesh
- Belarus
- Belgium
- Benin
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Botswana
- Brunei
- Bulgaria
- Burkina Faso
- Burundi
- Cambodia
- Cameroon
- Cape Verde
- Central African Republic
- Chad
- China
- Comoros
- Côte d'Ivoire
- Croatia
- Cyprus
- Czechia
- Denmark
- Djibouti
- DR Congo
- Egypt
- Equatorial Guinea
- Eritrea
- Estonia
- Eswatini
- Ethiopia
- Finland
- France
- Gabon
- Gambia
- Georgia
- Germany
- Ghana
- Greece
- Guam
- Guinea
- Guinea-Bissau
- Hungary
- India
- Indonesia
- Iran
- Iraq
- Ireland
- Israel
- Italy
- Japan
- Jordan
- Kazakhstan
- Kenya
- Kosovo
- Kuwait
- Kyrgyzstan
- Laos
- Latvia
- Lebanon
- Lesotho
- Liberia
- Libya
- Liechtenstein
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Madagascar
- Malawi
- Malaysia
- Maldives
- Mali
- Malta
- Mauritania
- Mauritius
- Mayotte
- Micronesia
- Moldova
- Monaco
- Mongolia
- Montenegro
- Morocco
- Mozambique
- Myanmar
- Namibia
- Nepal
- Netherlands
- New Zealand
- Niger
- Nigeria
- North Korea
- North Macedonia
- Northern Mariana Islands
- Norway
- Oman
- Pakistan
- Palau
- Palestine
- Papua New Guinea
- Philippines
- Poland
- Portugal
- Republic of the Congo
- Reunion
- Romania
- Russia
- Rwanda
- San Marino
- Sao Tome and Principe
- Saudi Arabia
- Senegal
- Serbia
- Seychelles
- Sierra Leone
- Singapore
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- Somalia
- South Africa
- South Korea
- Spain
- Sri Lanka
- St Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha
- Sudan
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Syria
- Taiwan
- Tajikistan
- Tanzania
- Thailand
- Togo
- Tunisia
- Turkey
- Turkmenistan
- Uganda
- Ukraine
- United Arab Emirates
- United Kingdom
- United States
- Uzbekistan
- Vatican City
- Vietnam
- Western Sahara
- Yemen
- Zambia
- Zimbabwe
Sources and further reading
- Wikipedia: Common moorhen
- eBird: sightings, maps and photos
- xeno-canto: sound recordings
- Birds of the World: full species account (subscription)
- BirdLife DataZone: status and threats
- IUCN Red List (threat status)
- AviList global checklist (taxonomy)
Last updated September 29, 2026.
