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Dear All: I just had an excited phone call from a visiting birding friend who wondered if the current "Common Moorhen" was indeed that. I responded that it was very doubtful. IT'S O.K. YOU'VE ALL CORRECTLY ID'D IT, IM SURE! But, the name of the species is now COMMON GALLINULE, as distinct from the COMMON MOORHEN of Eurasia. It was long accepted that the N. American and Eurasian birds were the same species, but the North Am. birds retained their different name. I knew them once as Florida Gallinule, then as Common Gallinule (still the name in not-so-old field guides), but then they were re-named Common Moorhen to conform with Brit. usage. Now they've been split on basis of behaviour, vocalizations, and genetics. There is a remote possibility that could one fly or hitch hike here from Europe; there are almost a 100 for Iceland (species??), and there is a Eurasian Coot record for Labrador. They're VERY similar; a salient difference is in the shape of the red shield - narrower and rounded at the top in Eurasian, broad and tapered from a flatish top end in the American. Cheers, Ian Ian McLaren
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