Rails & Coots in France
Our list for France has 6 rails & coots recorded regularly there: 3 residents, 1 summer visitor, 1 winter visitor and 1 passage migrant
Most likely in October
GBIF · OctShare of all bird records in France in October, 2019–2024. Each month links to that month’s page.
All 6, most common first
CootFulica atraResidentCommon36–42 cmRecorded all year
MoorhenGallinula chloropusResidentCommon30–38 cmRecorded all year
Water RailRallus aquaticusWinter visitorCommon23–28 cmRecorded all year
Purple SwamphenPorphyrio porphyrioResidentUncommon45–50 cmRecorded all year
Spotted CrakePorzana porzanaPassage migrantRare19–23 cmRegularly Mar–Oct
CorncrakeCrex crexSummer visitorRare22–30 cmRegularly Apr–Oct
Smallest to largest
Length, cm- Spotted Crake 19–23 cm
- Water Rail 23–28 cm
- Corncrake 22–30 cm
- Moorhen 30–38 cm
- Coot 36–42 cm
- Purple Swamphen 45–50 cm
Body length, bill to tail. Rare birds in grey.
Data: EOD – eBird Observation Dataset (Cornell Lab of Ornithology), accessed via GBIF.org, CC BY 4.0. Records from 2019–2024, aggregated and filtered by Birdfact. How these lists are made