Clash of the Common Moorhen
December 05 2013
Dear reader!
Same as the last reports also these photos are taken at a river mouth in Marbela, where numerous Common Moorhen are staying. Time and good opportunity to dedicate a report to this beautiful waterfowl about its life and behavior! 
The males are looking during breeding season for their females always at the same waters, as a British ornithologist found out in long studies. No rival is tolerated, because a Common Moorhen partnership should last, if possible, forever! And as the following photo sequence is showing, there is a bitter fighting for the preservation of this partnership!
There is trouble brewing, as soon as the wings go up and the white hindquarters are to be seen:
First it is circled around each other with the head flat on the water:
Soon the first kick is following:
Both birds are now
besides themselves with rage:
Is the clash now solved?
Oh no, that easy the opponent won't give up:
Rage and concentration on the fight are unmistakable:
Now it comes
all or nothing:
And the winner routs
the opponent furiously and
is swimming away, not without showing the looser again threateningly his white hindquarter:
I definitely shall continue to watch the life of these Common Moorhen. This is fun! 
Best regards
Birgit Kremer