What's the difference between a coot and a moorhen?

These medium-sized water birds might belong to the same family, but they're easy to tell apart when you know what to look for.

A moorhen with a distinctive red and yellow bill swims in the canal with its chick, which has fluffier black plumage and a red bill.

Moorhens have a bright red frontal shield on their foreheads.

Coots and moorhens are from the Rallidae family, which also includes rails and crakes. Both found in similar wetland environments with dark plumage, coots and moorhens are often confused.

The difference between coots and moorhens

The coot has black plumage with a distinctive white frontal shield and beak, whereas moorhens have dark brown-black plumage with a smaller red frontal shield and beak. The moorhen's red beak is tipped with yellow.

The easiest way to remember this difference is that the 'R' in moorhen stands for 'red' beak. There is no 'R' in coot.

How to identify a coot

Coots are bigger than moorhens with black-charcoal plumage. They have silver-grey legs with large lobed toes. Males and females are alike.

An adult coot with a white beak, white frontal shield, black body, and lobed toes stands on a log in shallow water.

Coots can become very aggressive and territorial, known to even turn on their own young

An adult coot with a black, round body and white beak feeds its chick.

All about coots

From what they eat to how they breed, learn about the coots that live along our canals

How to identify a moorhen

Moorhens are slightly smaller than coots with a black head, neck, and mantle. However, they have a brown back with dark, slate-grey undersides, white under the tail and a white stripe along the side. Moorhens have yellow legs and feet, which resemble those of a chicken.

A moorhen with its long legs, large feet, black plumage with a white stripe, and red and yellow bill stands on the towpath.

Moorhens are strong runners, capable of climbing tree branches to roost.

A common moorhen with a red beak and yellow tip, and white feathers on the tail.

More about moorhens

Spotted a moorhen on your local canal? Discover more about how they live, breed, and eat

How to tell the difference between baby coots and baby moorhens

The white beak and frontal shield of adult coots won't help you identify the difference between juveniles as they both have red beaks.

A coot chick with orange-tinged fluff on the head, a black body, and red beak sits on a lily pad in water.

However, the baby coot (pictured left) has a slightly more cream-coloured tip compared to the baby moorhen's yellow one (pictured right). Young coots also have red and orange-tinged fluff around the head, whereas moorhens have brown bald patches.

Still not sure if it's a coot or moorhen? Coots are far more likely to spend their time in the open water, while moorhens prefer to secrete themselves in the bank-side vegetation.