Birds of the Upper Cumberland Region: Species Accounts

Common Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus)

Abundance: Rare (4 records in 3 counties, 1 in Kentucky and 2 in Tennessee; all records involve a single individual).

Status: Transient during spring (3 records) and fall (1 record); designated as a threatened breeding species by the Kentucky State Nature Preserves Commission (2004); designated as in need of management by the Tennessee Division of Natural Heritage (2004);  photograph; specimen without provenance data.

Information on Records: 

6 May 1976 (1--adult) City Lake Natural Area, Putnam County, Tennessee (Greg Archer fide William J. Jones; Williams 1976d; Stedman 1993).

Spring 1977 (1--age unspecified) Cookeville, Putnam County, Tennessee (fide William J. Jones; Stedman 1993), specimen [disposition uncertain].

9 May 1997 (1--adult) Pumphouse Pond, Pulaski County, Kentucky (Roseanna M. Denton photo and unpubl. data), photo.

25 September 2004 (1--adult) Pond near intersection Pollard Rd. and Will Thompson Rd., White County, Tennessee (Stephen J. Stedman and Douglas A. Downs; Casteel 2005a), Fall Bird Count record.

YardWatch Results 2003 and 2004: No registrations.

Habitat: Marshes of various kinds, usually around the edges of ponds or small lakes with some open water and some water covered with water lilies or other emergent vegetation.

Remarks: A specimen of Common Moorhen resides in the frozen bird collection of the Biology Department at Tennessee Technological University; it was brought to the department in the mid-1990s by a person from Sparta, White County, Tennessee; the bird struck a vehicle and was brought in for rehabilitation, but it died soon thereafter (D. L. Combs pers. com.).

Counties with Observations (boldfaced):

To see a map (Figure 1) displaying the data in the table above, click on the bold-faced word in this sentence.

Literature Cited