Common Moorhen and Black-backed Swamphen foraging

YC Wee
on 3rd May 2012

“Here’s a pic of a Black-backed (Purple) Swamphen (Porphyrio indicus) and Common Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus) foraging together at Kranji Marsh (left) and a clip of the swamphen making its way over vegetation by distributing its weight over its huge feet (below). At the beginning of the clip, a Yellow Bittern (Ixobrychus sinensis) makes its way into the vegetation at the bottom of the screen. Sorry about the shake – handheld cam was at maximum zoom, thereby also magnifiying the shake…

“…here’s another clip – of the Common Moorhen foraging near the Black-backed Swamphen (below). The moorhen was a bit further away than the swamphen, so details are rather poor, but I’m sending it anyway as its of no use just occupying my hard-disk space anyway! One can see the moorhen turning over vegetation to feed on insects underneath, rather like the Bronze-winged Jacana (Metopidius indicus) in the clip in a previous post LINK.

Lena Chow
Singapore
18th March 2012

If you like this post please tap on the Like button at the left bottom of page. Any views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the authors/contributors, and are not endorsed by the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum (LKCNHM, NUS) or its affiliated institutions. Readers are encouraged to use their discretion before making any decisions or judgements based on the information presented.

YC Wee

Dr Wee played a significant role as a green advocate in Singapore through his extensive involvement in various organizations and committees: as Secretary and Chairman for the Malayan Nature Society (Singapore Branch), and with the Nature Society (Singapore) as founding President (1978-1995). He has also served in the Nature Reserve Board (1987-1989), Nature Reserves Committee (1990-1996), National Council on the Environment/Singapore Environment Council (1992-1996), Work-Group on Nature Conservation (1992) and Inter-Varsity Council on the Environment (1995-1997). He is Patron of the Singapore Gardening Society and was appointed Honorary Museum Associate of the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum (LKCNHM) in 2012. In 2005, Dr Wee started the Bird Ecology Study Group. With more than 6,000 entries, the website has become a valuable resource consulted by students, birdwatchers and researchers locally and internationally. The views and opinions expressed in this article are his own, and do not represent those of LKCNHM, the National University of Singapore or its affiliated institutions.

Other posts by YC Wee

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20th July 2024

Bird Society of Singapore: A credible alternative to the Nature Society’s Bird Group

11th December 2023

Singapore-Nature: 17. Citizen Science

30th August 2023

Singapore-Nature: 16. Living close to nature

18th August 2023

One Response

  1. The Purple Swamphen seemed to looked more like the Grey-headed Swamphen rather than the Black-backed Swamphen. The Black-backed Swamphen should had rather black heads.

    Reply

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