Common Moorhen: a two-minute wildlife lesson

Storks and Shorebirds · day 6 of 7

Five facts

1. When danger comes, young moorhens may cling to a parent's body, and the adult flies away to safety carrying them.
2. Moorhens lay eggs in other moorhens' nests and in other species' nests too. Their eggs have turned up with coots, grey partridges and mallards.
3. Moorhens feed at the water's edge or in the water. They may stroll across lilypads or tip head-down to reach food.
4. In the breeding season, moorhens defend their patch, fighting other moorhens and even ducks until they leave.
5. Abdul Hamid II kept more than fifty moorhens at his Yildiz Palace.

The quiz

1. How do young moorhens escape danger?

• They play dead
• They bury themselves in mud
• They cling to a parent that flies off (correct)
• They ride on a fish

Young moorhens may cling to a parent's body and be carried away to safety.

2. Whose nests have moorhen eggs been found in?

• Herons and swans
• Common coots, grey partridges and mallards (correct)
• Owls and crows
• Geese only

Moorhen eggs have turned up in the nests of common coots, grey partridges, mallards and other birds.

3. What do moorhens sometimes walk on while feeding?

• Floating logs
• Ice
• Reeds
• Lilypads (correct)

They sometimes walk on lilypads or upend in the water to feed.

4. Who do moorhens fight to protect their territory in breeding season?

• Only foxes
• Other moorhens and even ducks (correct)
• Only herons
• Nobody, they share

They fight other moorhens and other water birds such as ducks.

5. How many moorhens did Abdul Hamid II keep at Yildiz Palace?

• More than fifty (correct)
• About ten
• Exactly five
• More than a thousand

He kept more than fifty moorhens at his Yildiz Palace.

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