Gallinula galeata cachinnans

(Bangs, 1915)

Vernacular names
English : Common gallinule
French : Gallinule d’Amérique

Classification
Class : Aves
Order : Gruiformes
Family : Rallidae
Notes : 6 other subspecies known

Identification
Adults can reach up to 36 cm in length for a weight of 456 g. Very similar to the European gallinule. Plumage dark black-grey with brown wings and white fringes. Most bill and wide frontal shield bright red with yellow tip.

Range and habitat
Subspecies found in North America. Species also occurs in Central America, then from Colombia to Venezuela and from Peru to central Brazil and north Argentina. Lives in a wide variety of freshwater wetlands with emerging vegetation.

Conservation
IUCN RED LIST : LEAST CONCERN
CITES : Not Listed
Status : The species is widespread and locally common to abundant. Hawaiian subspecies is now endangered and numbers only a few hundreds.
Ex-Situ Programs : None known

Observation
Wild (Brownsville TX, USA)

 

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