Common Moorhen

Common Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus) is a dark rail with a red-and-yellow bill, red frontal shield, white flank stripe and flicked white undertail. Body shape, bill structure, plumage pattern and voice provide the strongest field characters. Age, sex and season may alter its appearance, so identification should combine several features and careful direct field comparisons with similar species in the same habitat (Wikipedia, general species account).

It walks and swims through vegetated wetlands, eating plants and small animals and nesting in dense waterside cover. Its movements and social behaviour vary through the year, with breeding birds generally more dispersed and non-breeding birds gathering where food is concentrated. Japanese records place it within the country's documented avifauna as a resident, migrant or visitor (Wikipedia, general species account; Wildlife of Japan occurrence records).