gemfyre: (Asian Dowitcher)
[personal profile] gemfyre
So I was at Herdsman Lake today, as I often am on my lunch break and was watching the birds and taking note of all the species I saw for my daily bird list (which I have been doing every day since mid April 2005 - bar a couple of days where I've missed it). And I thought to myself, a lot of these birds I see every day and I just know them, their colour, size, behaviour, call, WHERE they are also factors into ID a lot. And then I thought to myself, I can easily tell the difference between a Dusky Moorhen and a Purple Swamphen and Eurasian Coot, but there are a LOT of people who would see a coot or a moorhen and just assume it's a duck. Which it most certainly is not. So I decided on my lesson one of bird ID.


Gallinules

These birds are all part of a family known as the Gallinules - which consist of crakes and rails. The majority of the birds in this family (in Australia at least - all my lessons will be on Aussie birds of the South-west or Broome region, because they're the areas I'm intamitely familiar with the birdlife of) are secretive, shy and small and little bastards to spot. But three stand out as being some of the most highly visible (and noisy!) of the waterfowl. By the way, my birding experience started with waterfowl and I think anyone who wants to get into serious birding should start with these guys, because they're big, abundant and easy to identify, unlike say, migratory waders or small bush birds, which require a lot of practice to get a handle on. Heck, I'm still to master bush birds and only know waders because I was looking at them day in, day out in Broome.

Eurasian Coot - Fulica atra

We'll start with the gallinule most often mistaken for a duck. Even as a child I knew they different from the "Black Ducks" I was familiar with (by the way, I will do a lesson on ducks in the future, but that's a 10 species epic rather than the 3 here). I called Coots "Pencil Birds" due to their white beaks, which for some reason reminded me of pencils. The Eurasian Coot is found all over the world (except for the Americas where they have the American Coot), so once you have this guy down you'll be able to ID at least one bird in your travels around Asia, Africa and Europe.



So, this is a Eurasian Coot. A few of its distinguising features:
- White beak and facial shield. Not a flattened bill like a duck.
- Fully black body.
- Red eyes.
- Loud, piercing call. You probably won't notice an individual calling, but sit by a lake and you'll hear the sound often as they call to each other. I wish there was an easy way to describe the call. You'll just have to come birding with me and I'll point it out to you and you'll go, "Oh THAT sound! Is that what it is?"


Image by Stephen Powell of www.birdforum.net

- Really funky feet! Instead of webbing between the toes like a duck, a coot has lobes along its toes to assist with swimming.

Coots hang around in large flocks and are often found grazing on grassy areas near lakes. At lakes where people frequent (like Monger and Herdsman), the coots probably won't be bothered by you if you stand still near them. Heck, I find they often come towards me to solicit a feed (I might discuss feeding wild birds in a later post - essentially, please don't do it). Coot chicks have red heads and beaks and the adults are often pretty violent towards them (grabbing their heads in their beaks and shaking them, holding them underwater). I don't think there's anything else to say about coots so we'll move onto the next "visible gallinule", which is easy to mistake for a coot when you're just beginning.

Dusky Moorhen - Gallinula tenebrosa


Photo by Aussietrev of www.birdforum.net

Dusky Moorhens are usually seen in ones or twos and a lot less abundant than coots, which form great flocks. Right away there are three big differences:
- Red bill with a yellow tip.
- White feathers beneath the tail (these feathers have a black strip running down the middle).
- Slightly larger than a coot.

Their call is pretty similar. Their chicks looks almost the same. They have black plumage, except for the white under the tail. They don't have the funky feet, just regular 3 toed, non-webbed feet. Watch out for the young ones and non-breeding birds!! They're rather brownish and their beaks are also brown. The diagnostic feature of a Dusky Moorhen is those undertail feathers. Look at the butt, if it's two white patches you have yourself a Dusky Moorhen.

Purple Swamphen - Porphyrio porphyrio bellus

As you approach Herdsman Lake the first "waterfowl" bird you will see will either be an Australian White Ibis (more on the ibis in a later lesson) or this guy, the Purple Swamphen.


Photo by fthsm of www.birdforum.net

This photo was taken in Sydney. The Swamphens in South-western Australia have chest feathers which are an irridescent aqua in the sunlight. The eastern birds are a darker colour. The Purple Swamphen is actually found in a lot of places around the world and it looks very different depending on where you are. They do get really pale, with aqua feathers all over and an almost white face, but in Australia they are all this glossy blue-black and our south-westers have the gorgeous sheen on their chests.

Swamphens are usually found grazing on the grass or skulking in the reeds around urban lakes. If they're not used to humans they will go into an awful tizzy if you startle them, calling loudly and flying in a very clumsy fashion before crashing into some reeds to hide. Their feet dangle down when they fly and they never seem to gain much height. They look equally ridiculous when swimming, because their tails stick way out of the water and they look like their front end is sinking. They are closely related to the endangered New Zealand Takahe.

A few distinguishing features:
- BIG, bright red bill and facial shield. Don't try to hand feed these guys (ones that are used to people will mug you for food). I learned the hard way. When you hand feed ducks you get a soft, rounded bill gently nibbling at the food in your hand. With Swamphens it's a quick peck with their massive, HARD beaks and it HURTS when they get your finger.
- Biggest of the local gallinules. About twice the size of a coot.
- Glossy blue-black feathers.
- Long pink legs with HUGE, 3 toed feet.
- A large, unbroken patch of white feathers beneath the tail. You'll often see them flicking thier tails, this is communicating to the other swamphens in the area, they usually do it when they're nervous.
- Whining, screamy call. It starts with this boomy sound in their chests and ends in a keening whine. It's really eerie to listen to at night. I once considered these guys as a native alternative to chickens, but the noise they make at night would be immensely annoying.

Thier chicks just look like smaller, drabber (very greyish brown, rather than shiny blue-black, and with a black bill) versions of the adults. I like watching Swamphens. They really remind me of the birds dinosaur lineage, with their movements and mannerisms. They also have some interesting territorial displays.

So there you have it, the three common gallinules of south-west Australia and how to tell them apart. I might do a lesson on the harder to see members of this family later on (if you want to investigate now Google "Buff-banded Rail", "Australian Spotted Crake", "Spotless Crake" and "Baillon's Crake"

Woo!! That took me about 1.5 hours to put together. I hope I can find the time to do a whole series of these.
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