Coot, American

Physical Features The American Coot is a black bird that lives in water. It is sometimes confused for a duck but its white beak and lack of webbed feet distinguish it from ducks. It has lobed toes that assist it to swim. Although its color ranges from dark gray to black, it has a white under tail and yellow legs. The bird has an average weight of 0.65kg and is 40cm long. The adult has a white frontal shield with a reddish-brown spot on top of the bill between the eyes. When in flight, they are distinguished by a white trailing edge on its wings. Habitat The American Coot is predominantly found on raised grounds in big freshwater ponds, lakes, and slow-moving rivers, but they occasionally visit salt marshes and sheltered coastal bays. They breed in marshes from southern Quebec to the Pacific coast of North America and as far south as northern South America where they seek out marsh vegetation in shallow water for their nests. Those in the temperate North America east of the Rocky Mountains move south to the southern United States and southern British Columbia for breeding. The birds tend to be permanent inhabitants of places where water remains open in winter. Diet The American Coot is a forager mostly feeding on aquatic plants such as algae, duckweed, eelgrass, wild rice, sedges, hydrilla, wild celery, water lilies, cattails and water milfoil. When on land, they can also feed on plants and grains or leaves of oak, elm, and cypress trees, insects, crustaceans, snails, and small vertebrates such as tadpoles and salamanders, worms and even eggs of other birds. Meat The meat of the American Coot has a rough texture and a taste similar to that one of fish liver oil. Behavior Both the male and female American Coot assist in building a nest made of stems of marsh plants. The nest is hidden in vegetation and attached to the nearby plants. The female lays six to eleven eggs and incubates them with the assistance of the male. The young hatch 23 to 25 days later. The young can swim a few hours after hatching and are fed by both the parents. A pair of the birds can have one to two broods per year. American Coots have scratchy clucking vocalizations and produce a series of 'kuk-kuk-kuk' notes.

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