Gallinules Growing Up
In January I was delighted to
find a family of common gallinules in a Fish Bay pond near our house. These
birds are commonly called ‘moorhens’ but several years ago were renamed because
they have now been designated as a different species than the ‘Old World’
moorhens. They are year-round residents
on St. John.
I first noticed the mother
sitting on a rough nest of sticks in a downed tree in the middle of the pond.
Then I got excited when I saw that there were several small bald chicks
underneath her. For the next few weeks I kept checking on their progress as I
passed by on my walks.
These birds had caught my
attention in prior years due to their weird red facial shields. (Why the Red
Face? https://www.stjohntradewinds.com/connecting-nature-red-face/).
Last year I also witnessed the
kidnapping of a baby gallinule by a pearly-eyed thrasher (Drama in the
Mangroves https://www.stjohntradewinds.com/connecting-with-nature-drama-in-the-black-mangroves/).
That first day I did see a
couple of thrashers hanging around the pond near the nest, and was concerned
that the chicks were in danger. They looked very small and vulnerable, with
fuzzy black feathers, and baldish red spots on their heads like targets.
The chicks mostly stayed
under their mother, though, while the father seemed to be providing food for
the family by diving down and pulling up aquatic plants, then swimming back to
the nest. Actually both parents feed the chicks, and they look much the same so
it is difficult to tell them apart, except that the male is a bit larger.
Later on the chicks bravely
ventured out into the water near the nest.
One day I found the whole
family on the edge of the pond pecking along the ground. The parents seemed to
be showing the babies how to find seeds, grasses and insects, though the
youngsters looked more interested in getting food from the parents’ mouths.
The chicks have tiny wings,
but weren’t practicing any flying. The gallinules are mostly found swimming in
the water, or walking around on long yellowish legs. They rarely fly at all.
Meanwhile, Elaine Estern let
me know there was also a gallinule family in the Frank Bay pond also, so I
checked them out too.
By the middle of
February, the young Fish Bay gallinules were no longer black and bald. They
were still somewhat fuzzy, but grayish and quite a bit larger.
They still tried to get food from their parents, too, even
though they were beginning to be able to pull up their own from the bottom of
the pond.
Then Laurel Brannick reported
another family in the mangrove area near Annaberg, so the gallinules seem to be
thriving this year. It is great to see them doing so well.
