Common Gallinule at the Merced National Wildlife Refuge (and a not-so-common Hawaiian connection)

A new species debuts here on the blog today. During our excursion to the Merced National Wildlife Refuge last weekend we saw an unfamiliar "not-quite-a-duck" bird. I had a feeling that I should have known what it was, and finally realized it was a juvenile Common Gallinule (Gallinula galeata). It may be "common", but I think it is the first one I've photographed in California.

The Common Gallinule has been called a Common Moorhen in the past, and the species ranges from Chile to the Canadian border in North America. Strangely enough, while common in the summer across the eastern states, it rarely travels beyond the north end of the Great Valley in California.

The eBird archives indicate that many birders have seen the Gallinules at the Merced Refuge, but few of them report seeing more than one or two individuals at a time. I'll be watching more closely to see if some mature individuals are around next time. They are colorful unique birds.

Hawaiian Moorhen ('Alae 'Ula) on Oahu in the Hawaiian Islands.

It's an odd thing, but I've seen and photographed more Gallinules in Hawai'i than I have in California. Thousands of years ago a few errant individuals survived the long flight to the islands, took up residence in some of the few freshwater marshes on the islands, and evolved over time into a unique subspecies, the 'Alae 'Ula, or Hawaiian Moorhen. They are highly endangered on the islands because of habitat loss (the freshwater marshes have proven expendable in the face of intense development on Oahu and the other islands). There are less than a thousand of them today, and at one point they had declined to 57 individuals.

‘Alae ‘Ula in the Waimea Valley of Oahu

What, you may ask, was the rarest bird that I saw on my recent sojourn on the Hawaiian Islands? It was most likely this one, the 'Alae 'Ula, or the Hawaiian Gallinule (Gallinula chloropus sandvicensis). It is considered to be a subspecies of the Common Gallinule of the Americas. Endemic to Hawai'i, and found today only on Kauai and Oahu, there are probably no more than 750 individuals in existence. It is most definitely considered an endangered species.

The problem for the 'Alae 'Ula is that it is primarily a denizen of freshwater marshes, and of all environments in the Hawaiian Islands, these are perhaps the most completely altered by development and human incursions. It didn't help that it was the size of a small chicken and was hunted for food. It disappeared completely from the Big Island and Molokai, and reintroduction efforts failed. At one time it is thought that only 57 individuals remained.

They are usually rather secretive, but at Waimea Valley on Oahu there are several individuals who are used to crowds of people, and one or two wandered by while we waited at the entrance to the botanical gardens. It's always a good clue that a bird is endangered when it has a variety of leg bands.

The bird plays an important in Hawaiian mythology, being regarded as a deity that brought fire to the humans (the red shield is considered to have been caused by the scorching of the flames). Hearing one call at night was considered a bad omen.