Common Gallinule (Gallinula galeata) | Details

Common Gallinule Gallinula galeata

Current view: Data table and detailed info

Taxonomy

Taxonomic note
Gallinula chloropus and G. galeata (del Hoyo and Collar 2014) were previously lumped as G. chloropus following Sibley and Monroe (1990, 1993).

Taxonomic source(s)
del Hoyo, J., Collar, N.J., Christie, D.A., Elliott, A. and Fishpool, L.D.C. 2014. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Lynx Edicions BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, UK.
del Hoyo, J.; Collar, N. J.; Christie, D. A.; Elliott, A.; Fishpool, L. D. C. 2014. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge UK: Lynx Edicions and BirdLife International.

IUCN Red List criteria met and history

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2016	Least Concern
2014	Least Concern
2012	Not Recognised
2008	Not Recognised
2004	Not Recognised
2000	Not Recognised
1994	Not Recognised
1988	Not Recognised

Species attributes

Migratory status	full migrant	Forest dependency	does not normally occur in forest
Land-mass type		Average mass	-

Range

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	64,700,000 km²	medium
Extent of Occurrence (non-breeding)	63,400,000 km²	medium
Severely fragmented?	no	-

Population

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	unknown	poor	estimated	2009
Population trend	stable	-	suspected	-
Generation length	5.9 years	-	-	-

Population justification: The global population is estimated to number over 2,000,000 individuals (Wetlands International 2014).

Trend justification: The overall population trend is thought to be stable or increasing (Wetlands International 2014). This species has undergone a small or statistically insignificant increase over the last 40 years in North America (data from Breeding Bird Survey and/or Christmas Bird Count: Butcher and Niven 2007) Note, however, that these surveys cover less than 50% of the species's range in North America.

Country/territory distribution

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
Anguilla (to UK)	extant	native
Antigua and Barbuda	extant	native
Argentina	extant	native
Aruba (to Netherlands)	extant	native
Bahamas	extant	native
Barbados	extant	native
Belize	extant	native
Bermuda (to UK)	extant	native		yes
Bolivia	extant	native
Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba (to Netherlands)	extant	native
Brazil	extant	native
Canada	extant	native		yes
Cayman Islands (to UK)	extant	native
Chile	extant	native
Colombia	extant	native
Costa Rica	extant	native			yes
Cuba	extant	native
Dominica	extant	native
Dominican Republic	extant	native
Ecuador	extant	native
El Salvador	extant	native
French Guiana	extant	native
Grenada	extant	native
Guadeloupe (to France)	extant	native
Guatemala	extant	native
Guyana	extant	native
Haiti	extant	native
Honduras	extant	native
Jamaica	extant	native		yes
Martinique (to France)	extant	native
Mexico	extant	native
Montserrat (to UK)	extant	native
Nicaragua	extant	native
Panama	extant	native
Paraguay	extant	native
Peru	extant	native
Puerto Rico (to USA)	extant	native
Sint Maarten (to Netherlands)	extant	native
St Barthelemy (to France)	extant	native
St Kitts and Nevis	extant	native
St Lucia	extant	native
St Martin (to France)	extant	native
St Pierre and Miquelon (to France)	extant	vagrant				yes
St Vincent and the Grenadines	extant	native
Suriname	extant	native
Trinidad and Tobago	extant	native
Turks and Caicos Islands (to UK)	extant	native
Uruguay	extant	native		yes
USA	extant	native		yes
Venezuela	extant	native
Virgin Islands (to UK)	extant	native	yes
Virgin Islands (to USA)	extant	native	yes

Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBA)

Country/Territory	IBA Name
Peru	Laguna de Ite

Habitats & altitude

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Aquatic & Marine	Artificial/Aquatic - Canals and Drainage Channels, Ditches	suitable	breeding
Artificial/Aquatic & Marine	Artificial/Aquatic - Canals and Drainage Channels, Ditches	suitable	non-breeding
Artificial/Aquatic & Marine	Artificial/Aquatic - Irrigated Land (includes irrigation channels)	suitable	breeding
Artificial/Aquatic & Marine	Artificial/Aquatic - Irrigated Land (includes irrigation channels)	suitable	non-breeding
Artificial/Aquatic & Marine	Artificial/Aquatic - Ponds (below 8ha)	suitable	non-breeding
Artificial/Aquatic & Marine	Artificial/Aquatic - Ponds (below 8ha)	suitable	breeding
Artificial/Aquatic & Marine	Artificial/Aquatic - Water Storage Areas (over 8ha)	suitable	breeding
Artificial/Aquatic & Marine	Artificial/Aquatic - Water Storage Areas (over 8ha)	suitable	non-breeding
Marine Coastal/Supratidal	Coastal Brackish/Saline Lagoons/Marine Lakes	suitable	non-breeding
Marine Coastal/Supratidal	Coastal Brackish/Saline Lagoons/Marine Lakes	suitable	breeding
Marine Coastal/Supratidal	Coastal Freshwater Lakes	suitable	non-breeding
Marine Coastal/Supratidal	Coastal Freshwater Lakes	suitable	breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Bogs, Marshes, Swamps, Fens, Peatlands	suitable	breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Bogs, Marshes, Swamps, Fens, Peatlands	suitable	non-breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Freshwater Lakes (over 8ha)	suitable	breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Freshwater Lakes (over 8ha)	suitable	non-breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Freshwater Marshes/Pools (under 8ha)	suitable	non-breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Freshwater Marshes/Pools (under 8ha)	suitable	breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Inland Deltas	suitable	non-breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Inland Deltas	suitable	breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Rivers/Streams/Creeks (includes waterfalls)	suitable	non-breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Rivers/Streams/Creeks (includes waterfalls)	suitable	breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Saline, Brackish or Alkaline Marshes/Pools	suitable	non-breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Saline, Brackish or Alkaline Marshes/Pools	suitable	breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Seasonal/Intermittent Freshwater Lakes (over 8ha)	suitable	breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Seasonal/Intermittent Freshwater Lakes (over 8ha)	suitable	non-breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Seasonal/Intermittent Freshwater Marshes/Pools (under 8ha)	suitable	breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Seasonal/Intermittent Freshwater Marshes/Pools (under 8ha)	suitable	non-breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Shrub Dominated Wetlands	suitable	breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Shrub Dominated Wetlands	suitable	non-breeding
Altitude	0 - 4000 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Utilisation

Purpose	Scale
Food - human	subsistence, national
Pets/display animals, horticulture	subsistence, national
Sport hunting/specimen collecting	subsistence, national

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Common Gallinule Gallinula galeata. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/common-gallinule-gallinula-galeata on 14/12/2024.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2024) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 14/12/2024.