Dusky Moorhen (Gallinula tenebrosa) [XC522146]
by James Lambert from Brisbane City Botanic Gardens (near Brisbane City), Brisbane City, Queensland, Australia (begging call)
Dusky Moorhen (Gallinula tenebrosa) [XC183774]
by Diego Caiafa from Coburg North, Victoria, Australia (call)
Nest
An open structure composed of reed-stems and dried grasses, on a broken-down tussock of grass or rushes.
Eggs (Guide)
5 - 8 per female in the group; off-white with red-brown and grey blotches and spots; oblong-oval; about 53 x 36 mm. Incubation: 19 - 24 days; by group.
Young
Semi-precocial, nidifugous.
Subspecies
Sometimes considered conspecific with Common Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus), or to form superspecies, but the two are sympatric in Wallacea.
The following 3 subspecies are recognised:
tenebrosa Gould, 1846 - Australia.
frontata Wallace, 1863 - South-eastern Borneo and Sulawesi through southern Moluccas and Lesser Sundas to western and south-eastern New Guinea.
neumanni Hartert, 1930 - Lake Sentani, northern West Papua.
The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Pizzey, G., and Knight, E., 1997, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 19691 5
Field Guide to Australian Birds Morecombe, M., 2000, Steve Parish Publishing Pty Ltd. ISBN 1 876282 10 X
Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Simpson, K., and Day, N., 1999, 6th Edition, Viking ISBN 0 670 87918 5
Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds 1988, 2nd Edition, Reader's Digest ISBN 0 949819 99 9
What Bird is That? 1984, Revised Edition, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 14846 5
Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds 1990 - , Oxford University Press, Melbourne ISBN 0 19 553244 9
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