Saturday 2 March 2019

White-breasted Waterhen (Amaurornis phoenicurus)

OTHER NAMES: N/A
Latin Etymology: Amaurornis ("dusky brown bird") phoenicurus ("crimson tailed")
Adult White-breasted Waterhen (subspecies A. p. phoenicurus) at Bishan Park, Singapore - February 2019

Featured Subspecies: Amaurornis phoenicurus phoenicurus
Weight: 165-325g  /  Length: 28-33cm  /  Wingspan: 49cm
NO UK STATUS IUCN Red List: Least Concern

The White-breasted Waterhen is the commonest member of the rail family over a lot of it's range; a dweller of leafy pools and lakes that has found itself well adapted to take advantage of urban parks.  If anything, the relative absence of duck species in Singapore and Malaysia has in places allowed it to become the default fairly tame waterbird more so than in Europe - I encountered them in several places walking around at people's feet looking for scraps.

Related Species:
Order: Gruiformes
Family: Rallidae
Genus: Amaurornis
Subspecies: A. p. phoenicurus, A. p. insularis, A. p. midnicobarica, A. p. leucomelana

 - Sighting Locations -
SINGAPORE - A common resident of ponds and small lakes.
 - CAMBODIA/SINGAPORE 2019 TRIP: Common at Bishan Park and Sungei Buloh

Further Notes: BirdForum Opus, IUCN Red List, RSPB, Wikipedia, Xeno-canto

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