I don't often see Common Moorhens (Gallinula chloropus) in the few wetland areas around Tucson. They are not very common here, and the ones that I do see tend to like to hide in the reeds and cattails. I recently observed this Common Moorhen at the Sweetwater Wetlands.

Common Moorhens are similar to American Coots (Fulica americana), but they have a yellow-tipped red bill, a white stripe on their sides, and white on the tail.

Before I could get any closer photos of it, this Common Moorhen paddled through the floating mat of green algae back into the dense cattails and disappeared from sight.

While it definitely didn't like me, the Common Moorhen didn't seem to mind the thick algae and actually appeared to be eating stringy mouthfuls of it.