The Story
This is a Common Gallinule (Gallinula galeata) that I photographed at the Córdoba wetland (Humedal de Córdoba) in Bogotá, Colombia in June 2017. It eats plant material and small aquatic animals, and its wide feet let it walk on lily pads. It was split from the common moorhen in 2011. It lives around well-vegetated marshes, ponds, canals and other wetlands in the Americas. Of all the wetlands of Bogotá, Córdoba has the most bird species on record, 96 of them.
I photographed it with a Canon EOS 70D and the EF400mm f/5.6L USM, at 1/250 sec, f/5.6, ISO 1600. IUCN lists the Common Gallinule as Least Concern, and the Bogotá Water Company is in charge of rescuing and restoring the city’s wetlands, of which only about 1,500 of the 150,000 hectares mapped in 1940 remain.
©2018 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Common Gallinule (Gallinula galeata) belongs to the family Rallidae (Rails, Gallinules, and Coots) in the eBird/Clements taxonomy.
Source: eBird.org (opens in a new tab)
Conservation
Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (assessment published 2025). Source: IUCN Red List