Diamond P Photography by James Gault of Park City Utah 801-755-6737

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American coot Fulica americana

Identification Tips:

• Length: 12 inches Wingspan: 25 inches
• Fairly large, duck-like waterbird with short wings and a short tail
• Very short, thick bill
• Frequently seen both swimming and walking
• Often flicks and cocks short tail while walking, exposing white outer undertail coverts
• Sexes similar
• Toes have lobed webbing, unlike gallinules

Adult:

• White bill with dark reddish ring just before tip
• White frontal shield with reddish oval near tip
• Slate gray head, neck, back, upperwings, breast and belly

Juvenile:

• Lacks the frontal shield of the adult
• Horn-colored bill may lack ring near tip
• Pale gray-brown head, neck, upperwings, breast and back; feathers on underparts often with paler edges

Similar species:

Common Moorhen is of similar size and shape but has a reddish bill with a yellowish tip, a white stripe along the flanks, and a brownish back.

Length and wingspan from: Robbins, C.S., Bruun, B., Zim, H.S., (1966). Birds of North America. New York: Western Publishing Company, Inc.

Family: Rallidae, Rails, Gallinules, Coots

Description  15" (38 cm). A gray, duck-like bird with white bill and frontal shield, white undertail coverts, and lobed toes. Frontal shield has red swelling at upper edge, visible at close range. Immatures similar but paler, with duller bill.

Habitat  Open ponds and marshes; in winter, also on coastal bays and inlets.

Nesting  8-10 pinkish eggs, spotted with brown, on a shallow platform of dead leaves and stems, usually on water but anchored to a clump of reeds.

Range  Breeds from British Columbia, western Canada, and New York locally southward. Winters north to British Columbia, Kansas, Illinois, and Massachusetts. Also in American tropics.

Voice  A variety of clucks, cackles, grunts, and other harsh notes.

Discussion  Coots are the most aquatic members of their family, moving on open water like ducks and often feeding with them. Coots feed in many ways: by diving to the bottom, dabbling at the surface, grazing on land near shore, and stealing food from other diving birds. They are expert swimmers, propelled by wide lobes on their toes, but they are also heavy birds that must patter over the water before becoming airborne.

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