Have you ever watched a coot swim? When I first spotted this American Coot (Fulica americana) earlier this week at my local marsh, I thought it might be a duck. Once it started swimming, I could tell immediately that it was a coot.
Coots have a really clumsy way of swimming. They thrust their necks forward and then back, as if to generate momentum to propel themselves forward. The two photos show two different positions that the coot assumes while swimming. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology that coots, unlike ducks, don’t have webbed feet, but instead each one of the coot’s long toes has broad lobes of skin that help it kick through the water. In fact, they are closer relatives to Sandhill Cranes than to Mallards.
This coot was by itself and may be migrating through this area or may become a resident here for the winter. I was happy that I saw the coot in a relatively open area of the marsh. A short time later, the coot swam into the cattails and disappeared from sight.
Given the popular use of the term “coot,” I wonder if I am old enough to qualify as an American coot too.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
That’s interesting. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a coot. The bill sure doesn’t look like a duck’s.
I have only seen a few of them in my local area, though I saw a lot of them when I was in Georgia for a wedding last year.
Cute Coot!
Good joke! Here’s a bird that you will find in just about every slough around here.
That’s funny, this looks like an ordinary coot to me (there are lots of them here in Amsterdam), the one we call American coot is much more rare and has a red & yellow beak (rest of the body looks the same). Nice pictures, Mike!
Apparently there are a number of different types of coots. We have the American Coot (Fulica americana) and you have the Eurasian (or Common) Coot (Fulica atra) and they look a lot alike. My birding book shows a Common Moorhen that looks like a Coot, but has a red and yellow beak, but I have not seen one of those.
You’re absolutely right! I looked it up now, the ones we have here are Fulica atra and the ones we call American coots are Gallinula chloropus (Common moorhen)!
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