Common moorhen and serenity. The common gallinule, or common moorhen, is one of the most common birds of European rivers and lakes. For most of the day, they stand on the shore, hidden among the vegetation or walking through it in search of stems of aquatic plants, grass shoots, or invertebrates, and only early in the morning or at dusk it is possible to see them in open waters. That is why we can rarely observe their striking and colorful legs, which have very long fingers, very useful to move over the framework of reeds and branches that partially cover the waterfronts.