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
