Bird Watching in Neighborhood : White-breasted Water Hen

The White-breasted Water Hen had been a resident of my former neighborhood in Thiruvanmiyur, Chennai, was stayed with its family. The open vegetation opposite to our then apartment provided shelter to the water hens along with other species of birds and reptiles, but I have seen only the adult hen (may be a female) which come flew or leap on our compound wall to feed on the gains left by us to the birds and go back quickly as possible hiding among the bushes. I was happy to capture the water hen couple of times while it came feeding on the compound wall and only my mom had seen her with juveniles since I can’t lookout the compound wall, about 5 feet height.

As we shifted houses, I don’t know what happened to the water-hens since the vegetation was cleared and an apartment on construct right now wanted me to think they immigrated somewhere. The White-breasted Water-hen is a water bird of the rail and crake family (Rallidae) that widely distributed across Southeast Asia and the Indian Subcontinent. It is a large and distinctive rail species with dark grey upper-parts and flanks and conspicuous white under parts, from which the species gains its common name. The beak of the bird is yellowish with a reddish base, which becomes more olive outside of the breeding season.

The water-hen has long legs, colored in yellowish with large feet and legs dangled in flight. The female birds are generally smaller than the male, with a somewhat duller beak, while juveniles have duller plumage with the white of the under parts tinged brown and a darker beak and legs. This species is described as being very noisy during the breeding season, producing a loud call consisting of various grunts, roars, quacks and chuckles, followed by a repeated kru-ak, kru-ak, kru-ak-a-wak-wak. The bird feed on the ground had varied diet including insects, worms, small fishes and grass seeds and roots and shoots of marsh plants. 

(Source of info net)