Dusky Moorhen
Gallinula tenebrosa
Aves › Gruiformes › Rallidae › Gallinula
Conservation status: least_concern
This medium-sized bird is generally dark grey-black with a browner tinge to its upper parts. Its diet includes seeds, the tips of shrubs and grasses, algae, fruits, molluscs, and other invertebrates. It feeds both on land and in water.
How To Identify
This is a medium-sized fowl characterized by muted, dusky plumage that helps it blend into marsh reeds and muddy substrate. Both sexes share similar mottled brown, grey, and slate tones, giving them a cryptically dark appearance.
Habitat
It inhabits freshwater and brackish swamps, marshes, lakes, and coastal wetlands with dense vegetation across Australia and nearby regions.
Behaviour
This moorhen is primarily nocturnal and crepuscular, spending daylight hours hidden in dense reeds and emerging at dusk to forage for aquatic plants, invertebrates, and small fish.
Native Range
The Dusky Moorhen is native to Australia, New Guinea, Borneo, and Indonesia.
Did You Know?
The Dusky Moorhen can walk on floating vegetation and lily pads with surprising grace, using its long toes to distribute weight evenly. It is one of the few moorhen species found in Australia, where it has adapted to both freshwater and brackish wetlands.
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