Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Gallinules



Dusky Moorhen - distinguished from Common Moorhen by its reddish legs and absence of white flank lines. There are historical records from south-east Borneo, so another one for East Malaysian birders to watch for?











Purple Swamphen - noisy, aggressive, common, and looks nothing like the form we get in Malaysia!

2 comments:

Wong Tsu Shi said...

Dave, last official record of Dusky Moorhen from Kalimantan Tengah dated back to 1885. No sighting record after that date, it might not occur in Borneo anymore.

jytou said...

Their Purple Swamphen is sometimes split as the Black-backed Swamphen, different than the ones we get at West Malaysia, but the subspecies from East Malaysia is associated with black-backed! Also said to include southern West Malaysia and Singapore where they may co-exist?

I remember the ones in Auckland, being very friendly and technically occupies the niche of our White-breasted Waterhen for NZ.