About this time last year I ran an Uncommon Moorhen post, emphasizing the striking nature of the bird with its purple highlights over black and white plumage, and that amazing reverse candy corn beak…certainly enough to raise the bird well above the common level :).

And, of course, the AOU has made a definite node toward the bird’s uniqueness. It is no longer the Common Moorhen at all, now being separated from its worldwide kin and given a new name: Common Gallinule. It just can’t seem to shake that common. And it really is unfair. Far less striking birds don’t have to carry around common as part of their names.

This intimate portrait, at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge’s Black Point Wildlife Drive, was taken with the Canon SD100HS behind the 30x eyepiece on the ZEISS DiaScope 65FL for the equivalent field of view of a 2900mm lens on a full frame DSLR. Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation. 1/80th @ ISO 250. f7.8 effective.

Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness. Cropped for composition.