Common Gallinules are in the Rail family, and have feet more like a chicken than a duck.
These juveniles looked a bit awkward when they were resting, with their feet having grown faster than the rest of their bodies.
They had no trouble getting around; I saw them walking through some grass.
And then into shallow water.
June 8, 2021
Gallinules announce their presence vocally so I knew there were some nearby when I walked the dike around the old rice field pond at Magnolia a couple weeks ago.
I finally spotted some…one adult, two older juveniles and a few chicks. There are at least three chicks under the larger birds, and two more to the left in the reeds.
Interestingly the young chicks have the orange beak of a mature adult, but as they get older they turn all grey. Of course with six or more birds they are never all looking the same way at once.
The banks of the dike are overgrown most of the way around limiting view into the water.
August 4, 2020
I hear Common Gallinules more often than see them. Per All About Birds they “make all sorts of chicken-like clucks, whinnies, cackles, squawks, and yelps.” Needless to say, many a birder has jumped when that racket starts, often accompanied by one or more Gallinules running across the water to safety. I often refer to them as the early warning system for other ducks and wildlife I might have been hoping to see.
These images were taken on different days, but in the same area. The stump in the image above is newly sticking out of the water as the rice field pond has been drained for repairs.
The red bill in the image below looks almost like fake plastic, but that is how they look. Bald Eagles will stalk Gallinules in this pond and I wonder how that beacon of red appears to them.
