Common Moorhen Family

I love driving down Fruge' Road, a north-south road that runs from Calcasieu into Cameron Parish southeast of Holmwood. Among its many attractions are the ditches that flank the roadside in some areas. These ditches are actually like little marsh ponds, and there are usually marsh birds like Purple Gallinule and Common Moorhen (a.k.a. Common Gallinule) literally right beside your window as you pass.

Yesterday, July 3, I was out shooting video and looked down to see this scene on my passenger side. I had to lean over to get some shots, but overall it turned out pretty well. The floating bed of plants the Common Moorhen family is swimming in is, I think, introduced Salvinia. Its looks like slow going for the chicks.

The chicks are pretty spectacular. The bare area on the crown is where the frontal shield--the red patch on the forehead of the adult-- will be when the birds get older. The feature that really caught my eye was the wingtip of the chicks. It almost looks like the chicks have tiny fingers waving in the air. The tiny extra "finger" is actually the alula, or "little wing"of the bird, which will be much less pronounced when the wing grows to full size. Moorhen chicks have spurs on the alula to help them grab on to objects as they travel. As adults, their long toes will allow them to walk on floating plants.

A member of the rail family, Common Moorhens are found on every continent but Australia and Antarctica. More information, including a sound file of their distinctive calls, can be found at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's page:

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Common_Moorhen/lifehistory