ID CHALLENGE: Which Pullus is this?

[Romy Ocon]

When I zoomed in on the 40D's LCD and saw this young creature up close, I laughed out loud. It's the cutest ugly chick I've ever seen. Got this at Candaba this afternoon, in sweetest light just before the sun disappeared below the horizon.

Yes, I know which species is this because I espied first an adult bird foraging in the rice paddy. Every couple of minutes, the adult runs to the edge of the paddy, near some thick grass, to feed this young fellow.

I think Steve will be able to nail this. If not, I'll reveal the ID tomorrow after I process the photo of the adult and chick together. Have fun..... ;D



Romy

[Eric Patdu]

My "guess" is Common Moorhen.

[Neon Rosell II]

ericpatdu said:

My "guess" is Common Moorhen.

I second Eric, my guess is a common moorhen too.

[steve pryor]

Romy,
You are sticking me so high up on a pedestal - that you had better pass me the Oxygen mask!

There are lots of things not described and this includes the appearance of many of the pullus of the Rails in Phils. So, I will try and make an educated guess on this one - from the thick and rather short bill - totally black; and from the rather stout legs, etc., my best guess would be a pullus of genus Amaurornis - olivaceus?

[steve pryor]

Romy, and everyone else,

Pullus (pl. pulli) = downy young (already with down when they hatch = precocial young).

Fledgeling = refers to young birds as they acquire the flight feathers.

[Bobby Kintanar]

I second Sir Steve P. - whatever he means by all that Greek. Latin? Sounds Greek to me! Hehehe.

[Romy Ocon]

Haha! Good effort guys and thanks for playing, but nobody wins the surprise prize of a Sigmonster + 1 week all expenses paid birding at Palawan.... ;D ;D ;D

Kidding aside, all pullus (thanks for the technically proper term, Steve) of this type of water birds look the same to me. And the only reason I'm sure of the ID of this one is because I saw the parent.

For reference, here's an adult Plain Bush-Hen (Amaurornis olivaceus) with its pullus (another word of the year, Eric ):




Another pullus, one from a Ruddy-breasted Crake (Porzana fusca) :




And here's the parent of our current pullus (sorry, I missed the focus on this one, hitting the area behind the birds instead):





To make up for the above rubbish pic, here's the adult Barred Rail (Gallirallus torquatus) with better focus... ;D





Romy

[Eric Patdu]

admin said:

... with its pullus (another word of the year, Eric ):

Now we have two words of the year. ;D I wonder..... if this chick appeared with whitish downs, will this be called an amelanistic pullus? Now, that's something to watch out for!

admin said:

And here's the parent of our current pullus (sorry, I missed the focus on this one, hitting the area behind the birds instead):

So that's why I wasn't able to ID it right...

[Ding Carpio]

I protest! I sent in my guess which is correct! Didn't you get the posting! Must've been an internet glitch!

admin said:

Haha! Good effort guys and thanks for playing, but nobody wins the surprise prize of a Sigmonster + 1 week all expenses paid birding at Palawan.... ;D ;D ;D

[Romy Ocon]

ericpatdu said:

Now we have two words of the year. ;D I wonder..... if this chick appeared with whitish downs, will this be called an amelanistic pullus? Now, that's something to watch out for!

Amelanistic pullus, mwuhahaha.... that would be word of the decade, Eric! (Take care of the spelling when typing the new word for downy young ;D)

balarila said:

I protest! I sent in my guess which is correct! Didn't you get the posting! Must've been an internet glitch!

admin said:

Haha! Good effort guys and thanks for playing, but nobody wins the surprise prize of a Sigmonster + 1 week all expenses paid birding at Palawan.... ;D ;D ;D

Hehe, Ding.... I revealed the answer when I felt you're about to send in the correct ID.

[steve pryor]

Romy,
Very nice! The G. torquatus pullus was my second guess. Markedly resemblant, the two - perhaps the olivaceus is a bit more "leggy". By the way, according to the "Rails", the family monograph, by Taylor and van Perlo, the pulli of neither of the two species, i.e., A. olivaceus; and G. torquatus, have been described.

Lest anyone feels too depressed by the misses on such possibles as the Coot or the Common Moorhen, or even Purple Swamphen, well, they have been described and I have them all as figures on Plates. So, I had the advantages of knowing a lot of them which I could eliminate, and then got it wrong anyway!

Now, at least all can see that I am not infallible!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Romy Ocon]

Thanks, Steve.... looks like this thread is of value to ornithology then, with the photos of the pulli of both the said species.

cuckooroller said:

Romy,
Very nice! The G. torquatus pullus was my second guess. Markedly resemblant, the two - perhaps the olivaceus is a bit more "leggy". By the way, according to the "Rails", the family monograph, by Taylor and van Perlo, the pulli of neither of the two species, i.e., A. olivaceus; and G. torquatus, have been described.

[Nilo Arribas Jr.]

Romy and All,

I was out for several days and was not able to check the posting or the verdict on this one. So I will try to ID the cute black chick:

1. The habitat: possible candidates >> common moorhen, barred rail (other rails), white-breasted waterhen or plain bush-hen

2. The bill, the plumage, posture, eyes.... not helping me at all...

Now with only the habitat as clue:
>This should not be a plain bush-hen because i haven't seen them in water or in very wet environ.

>I just feel that this is not a White Breasted Waterhen

>This leaves me with only Common Moorhen and Barred Rail (or other rail).

I've seen adult Barred rails in water (no chicks) but I've seen a lot of moorhens with larger black chicks in or near the water level...

With that, it should be a Common Moorhen, next guess would be Barred Rail, White-breasted Waterhen in that order.

Nilo

[Nilo Arribas Jr.]

Hmmm... we should have more of these challenges.... maybe I'll win the Sigmonster in the future :-)

[steve pryor]

The Sigmonster. Would certainly be wasted on me! Lucky if I can find my way around a little Nikon Coolpix L10!!!

[Romy Ocon]

Rene, a new member from Puerto Rico, just posted a photo of the pullus of the Common Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus) in the motif section.

I'm pasting here his post for reference:

reneripr said:

Hi

I'm new here and very happy to know about this bird photo site.
I hear about this place in one of Romy's post on dpreview.

Here a photo of a pair of black Common Moorhen chicks (Gallinula chloropus) waiting for mom in the Central Park, San Juan,Puerto Rico. Sorry about my big copyright name in the photo, but one time several of my photos were loaned without my permission.

30D + 500 f4 L IS, 1/200 sec, ISO 400, F8, Exposure compensation -1/3, Gitzo 5540 monopod, Manfrotto 3232 swivel head, RAW.



Saludos,
Rene