Waterhen, White-breasted

Conservation status:

Vagrant

Description:

Slightly smaller and slimmer than Moorhen with longer neck and bill. Distinctive slaty brown and white, with rufous-chestnut vent and undertail-coverts, and yellowish green bill and feet; in breeding season reddish base to upper mandible; the crimson eye set in white face is very conspicuous. Juvenile has white face obscured by slate-brown. Skulking but sometimes easy to see in open, walking with jerking tail and displaying undertail-coverts. Flight with dangling legs like other rails. Occasionally swims.