About Coot and Moorhen chicks

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 August 2022

Coots (Fulica atra) and Moorhens (Gallinula chloropus) belong to the bird family Rallidae. Similarly to ducklings, Coot and Moorhen chicks leave the nest after hatching. But unlike ducklings, they are after hatching fully dependent on their parents for food.

Coot (Fulica atra) and Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus) chick


Feeding behaviour of chicks

Small chicks of Coots and Moorhens are for the first 7 to 10 days of their life fully fed by their parents.  During this time, they eat mainly invertebrates. Adults of Coots and Moorhens, on the other hand, are omnivorous. They mostly eat vegetative food, including plants, seeds and berries. The rest are invertebrates, small fishes and amphibians.

It has been found out that that the diet of Coot chicks of age 4 to 10 days consists of 90% invertebrates and only 10% of vegetative food. From invertebrates small Coot chicks prefer insects, such as dipterans, caddisfly larva, and small sized mollusks; e.g. zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha).

In their third week, chicks of Coot and Moorhen start to search for food by themselves, but they still get food from parents.


Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus) feeding its offspring 


Mating system

Coots are monogamous and both parents participate in feeding; sometimes they can split the brood and care for the chicks separately. They usually have only one brood per season.

Moorhens are mostly monogamous, but they also form polyandrous, polygynous and polygynandrous groups. Moorhens can have more broods in one season (2 – 3 broods). Interestingly, young from the earlier brood often help with feeding siblings from the younger brood. Moorhens often divide the brood between the two parents who then feed the young separately. They can additionally have helper.

Asynchronous hatching

Both Coots and Moorhens have asynchronous hatching. Therefore, in one brood there are few days differences in chick age, which leads to a hierarchy between siblings. Moreover, larger chicks of Coots were observed to be favoured in feeding by parents compared to their smaller younger siblings. Moorhen parents tend to allocate food more equally among chicks, ensure that all of the chicks get enough of food despite their different competitive abilities.


Coot (Fulica atra) with newly hatched chick 


Aggressiveness of parents towards offspring

In the Rallidae family to which Coots and Moorhens belong, parents often show aggressive behaviour towards their offspring. There are several explanations for it. For example, in divided broods a parent may want to discourage the chick belonging to the other part of the brood from begging for food and from following it. Aggressiveness can be used toward larger competitive offspring when parents want to provide enough food also for smaller ones. Parents also use the punishment method when they want to force chicks to be more independent.


Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus) punishing its own offspring 


Developement of chicks

Coot chicks are partly fed by parents till the age of 5 weeks and become fully independent in 6 to 8 weeks. They learn to fly during age of 7 – 9 weeks. Moorhen chicks are partially dependent on parents until about 4 to 5 weeks. They can fly since 7th week.


Coot chick (Fulica atra) 


Habitat preferences

There are also differences in habitat use between Moorhens and Coots. Moorhens are not very good swimmers which can be easily guessed by looking at their legs. Thus, they prefer small ponds and streams. When they are on larger wetlands, they keep close to the shores. Contrarily, Coots are good swimmers and spend more time on open water. They prefer larger lakes and ponds.

Have a nice Coot and Moorhen chick observations! 





References:

  • Brinkhof M. W. 1997: Seasonal variation in food supply and breeding success in European Coots Fulica atra. ARDEA-WAGENINGEN- 85: 51–66.
  • Brinkhof M. W., Cavé A. J., Hage F. J., & Verhulst S. 1993: Timing of reproduction and fledging success in the coot Fulica atra: evidence for a causal relationship. Journal of Animal Ecology 62: 577–587.
  • Forman D. W. 2001: The breeding ecology of the moorhen, Gallinula chloropus, in an artificially created wetland environment at WWT Llanelli, South Wales. Swansea University (United Kingdom).
  • Forman D. W., & Brain P. F. 2004: Reproductive strategies used by moorhens (Gallinula chloropus) colonizing an artificial wetland habitat in south Wales. Journal of Natural History 38: 389–401.
  • Gadsby A. B. 1978: Territoriality and breeding biology of the coot (Fulica atra (l) at Attenborough (Doctoral dissertation, Durham University).
  • Halupka, L., Czyż B., & Macias Dominguez, C. M. 2020: The effect of climate change on laying dates, clutch size and productivity of Eurasian Coots Fulica atra. International journal of biometeorology 64: 1857–1863.
  • Horsfall J. A. 1984: Brood reduction and brood division in coots. Animal Behaviour 32: 216–225.
  • Leonard M. L., Horn A. G., & Eden S. F. 1988: Parent-offspring aggression in moorhens. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 23: 265–270.

 


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