American Coot by Cosine
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Description
No, not me, the bird.
Often mistaken for a duck, the American Coot is a common waterbird. Its all black body and white chicken-like beak distinguish this swimming rail from the real ducks.
Although it swims like a duck, the American Coot does not have webbed feet like a duck. Instead of having all the toes connected by webs, each coot toe has lobes on the sides of each segment.
The Coot is a very common bird in the US, but this is the only decent photo I got on this visit. The Ridgefield NWR is one of those places where the animals are free to roam, but the people have to stay in their cars, so getting a good shooting angle can be a challenge. We saw several Bald Eagles while we were there, but they were all in trees, and against the bright sky they were just silouhettes.
Comments (17)
lizzibell
Beautiful capture...
Ceyzpurplestang
Awesome capture, especially considering how you had to shoot it ...
junge1
Fantastic close up Dennis. If I am not mistaken these birds are excellent divers, am I right? Sig...
durleybeachbum
Nice portrait!
artaddict2
Terrific capture and appreciate the added information.
timtripp
great shot
Cytisus
Gorgeous shot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
kansas
A great shot of this bird.
tresamie
I love the way the ripples and the bird's wet feathers reflect the low angle light! What a great portrait :)
barbdennist
This is an interesting picture with an informative lesson to accompany it. I find it interesting that the head and neck on this bird look more like velvet than feathers. Thanks for the lesson because I sure didn't know all of this stuff about a coot. And I liked your sense of humor, too.
Hedepo
I like your contribution to the floating bird fashion at renderosity, this American Coot is a look a like of the "Meerkoet" we have in Holland!! ( Meer = lake, Koet is pronounced as Coot!!!) They are very common in the area were I live, but never realized that you can make very beautiful photo's of them, and they are pretty, and their youngsters are funny and ugly, at least the European ones!! I like your capture!!! Have a nice evening Henk
tennesseecowgirl
Cute Coot ....... lol
D.C.Monteny
Even considering the technical difficulties, this is a wonderful shot. I like how the water waves around his body. Excellent!
auntietk
Nicely captured, y'ol'coot! :) (Somebody had to go there - it might as well be a friend!) So... it floats, but it's not a duck ... therefore ... not a witch?
onefeather
L amen there auntietk LOL You did a wonderful job of capturing this ole coot, Dennis L He/She's beautiful and the first time I have ever seen one! TY for sharing!
nongo
Gotta love those eyes!!!!!! We've got lots of these guys around here too!!!!
weezy136
Hmmm.....I didn't know there was such a thing. Quite interesting.