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Project Noah Nature School
Gallinula galeata
A dark bird, with white flank stripe and a triangular red bill and forehead.
On a pond at Brazos Bend State Park.
Spotted on Nov 8, 2014
Submitted on Nov 15, 2014
4 Comments
Yes change is hard and sometimes confusing to those who are trying to learn new things :)
Well they used to all be one species, and the older birders probably don't want to change, so that would make sense as to why they still called them moorhens :) But the split happened several years ago (2009, 2011, something like that?), and everything in the new world is now common gallinule. They don't really change that many bird names, so I think some don't like to accept it when they do!
I first saw this bird in LA where the other birders called them Moorhens. I did not realize that the true Common Moorhen was only old world. Will correct all my references. Thanks :)
Great shots, love these guys! Just curious as to why you put the name and reference for common moorhen on here as well since it is an old world species?