Check out those green legs of the Common Gallinule!
It’s been over 20 years since I saw my first Common Gallinule, but I’ve only seen their long green legs in the past two years.
The unexpected leg color always makes me smile.
I remember the first time I saw a Common Gallinule, in the mid 1990’s, in a marsh near the Houston, Texas airport.
The bright red bill and brilliant yellow forehead shield made it easy for me to quickly identify the marsh bird as it swam in the shallow water and disappeared into the reeds.
Fast forward 10 years and I’m seeing the Common Gallinule every spring as it migrates north to one of its breeding areas in Ohio and Michigan, where I see it in Lake Erie marshes.
It’s not often I see one in summer.
