#Fulica americana

[occasionallybirds]

American Coot (Fulica americana)

November 4, 2023

John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge, Tinicum, Pennsylvania

[geopsych]

Not a good picture I know but I'm just posting it to point out that on the day after a significant birthday on my part nature and the world chose to show me a coot. I couldn't tell if it was an old one but still, rude!

[shrub-jay-stickers]

Today’s pixel art bird is the American coot! This American waterbird is perhaps best recognized by their horrifying feet. Rather than having webbed feet to aid in swimming, coots have long, flat, lobed toes with a large surface area.

Coots have been observed exhibiting kleptoparasitism, meaning they will sometimes simply steal food from others instead of hunting for themselves. This gives them a piratical charm only complemented by their Jolly Roger color palette.

Further, coots often build floating nests out of plant material. I like to think this is equivalent to a little pirate ship. The photo featured in this post was taken at a reservoir in 2021.

P.S. If you want this pixel art bird as a sticker, you can find it here. :3

[fullfrontalbirds]

American Coot (Fulica americana)

© Callum Nixon-Holmes

[haveyouseenthisbirdpoll]

Photo source

Map source

[kiwi-tmntfan]

I'm camping right now but uh I drew these I guess

[na-bird-of-the-day]

BOTD: American Coot

Photo: Heather Paul

"Coots are tough, adaptable waterbirds. Although they are related to the secretive rails, they swim in the open like ducks and walk about on shore, making themselves at home on golf courses and city park ponds. Usually in flocks, they are aggressive and noisy, making a wide variety of calls by day or night. They have strong legs and big feet with lobed toes, and coots fighting over territorial boundaries will rear up and attack each other with their feet. Often seen walking on open ground near ponds. In taking flight they must patter across the water, flapping their wings furiously, before becoming airborne."

- Audubon Field Guide

[meklarian]

American Coot (Fulica americana) Sweetwater Wetlands Park Tucson, Arizona, USA March, 2019

(more coots here)

[travelella]

American coot - Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center, Ross Avenue, Port Aransas, Texas, USA

Joshua J. Cotten

Scientific name: Fulica americana

Family: Rallidae

Conservation status: Least Concern (Population decreasing)

Mass: 16 oz (Adult) 

Class: Aves

Genus: Fulica

Order: Gruiformes

The American coot, also known as a mud hen or pouldeau, is a bird of the family Rallidae. Though commonly mistaken for ducks, American coots are only distantly related to ducks, belonging to a separate order.

American Coots are migratory birds native to the Nearctic region. During the summer, these birds are found centered around the freshwater lakes and ponds of the northern United States and southern Canada. During the winter they head to the southern portion of the United States from California to Florida.

American coots can be found in Ponds, lakes, marshes; in winter, also fields, park ponds, salt bays. For breeding season requires fairly shallow fresh water with much marsh vegetation.

[crudlynaturephotos]

[aquilathefighter]

This is an American Coot (Fulica americana)! They have these lobed feet to help them walk along the shores of waterways like ponds and lakes. They also have really long toes to distribute their weight more evenly, allowing them to walk across surfaces like lilypads without sinking. These feet also help them paddle in the water, as the lobes will spread out more to more closely resemble a webbed foot.

Essentially this foot is like a truck that can shift from 2 wheel drive to 4 wheel drive, allowing them to easily shift from swimming around in the water (a relatively easier medium to get around in) to walking around in mud, rocks, and other junk you might find in a wetland!

I personally think it's an amazing adaptation and love the coot and its relatives with these special feet.

This thing is scaring me why are its feet so huge

[nerosbeastiary]

American coots (Fulica americana), March 2023

Western PA

They were very far out on the lake, and hard for me to make out even with my binoculars!

[herpsandbirds]

Could we get some Coot appreciation?

Here, have a trio of coots!

Common or Eurasian Coot (Fulica atra), family Rallidae, order Gruiformes, found across much of Eurasia, northern Africa, and Oceania, Australia and New Zealand

The remarkable feet of coots are fissipalmate (lobed/partially webbed), which help them swim and walk across soft mud (without sinking).

Coots are not ducks, but are more closely related to rails and gallinules/swamphens (and more distantly, to cranes).

photograph by Pat L. on flickr

Giant Coot (Fulica gigantea), family Rallidae, order Gruiformes, seen high in the Andes of Chile

photograph by Robin Holler

American Coot (Fulica americana), family Rallidae, order Gruiformes, Prospect Park, NYC, NY, USA

AKA "Mud Hen"

photograph by Rhododendrites

[occasionallybirds]

COOT FEET!

American Coot (Fulica americana)

April 17, 2024

John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge, Tinicum, Pennsylvania

[spinus-pinus]

American Coot Fulica americana

11/4/2023 Frank G. Bonelli Regional Park, California

[condorphoto]

American Coot Fulica americana