Normally when I see American Coots (Fulica americana) I see only a few of them at a time, but last Friday I spotted a whole raft of them in the waters off of Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. They seemed to be of mixed ages, not just old coots like me.
I zoomed out with my 150-600mm lens to capture the whole raft and then zoomed in to capture some details. I recommend that you double-click on the images, especially the second one, to see wonderful details, like all of the red eyes. There seem to be a number of different colored beaks in the group, suggesting the possibility that there are some other species mixed in, though it appears to be mostly coots.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
I suspect they’re getting ready to migrate. I see this behavior here in the spring, as they’re preparing to fly north for the summer. They can form huge rafts; they float around for a while, and then they’re gone.
Do they migrate as a big group? I haven’t seen many coots this summer and I wonder if they were just stopping in to rest in the middle of a longer migration that started farther north.
They do migrate in groups, but their arrival or departure is rarely seen, since they fly only at night. In five years, I’ve only seen a group of them in flight one time. We’ll sometimes get groups of a hundred or so in certain marinas. They’ll hang around for a couple of weeks, and then one morning they’re all gone, just like that.
Now that’s a special find. We find Coot rafts in the fall (like now) in the far marshes. Have not seen one this year. I love the way they swim as group, maneuver in and around reeds here. I was looking for them the other day, with no luck. Great captures 👏👏
Neat!
Nice images Mike! Liked showing the whole group & then zoomed in for more detail on the coots.
Great photos. I guess they aren’t worried about the virus.
Indeed. Social distancing does not seem to be a very high priority for these coots. Normally I see coots swimming all around trying to find food–I have not idea how they do that when they are masses together like this.
Very nice, Mike! Your closeup is great with those eyes.
Nice capture of a bunch of old coots–like me too! 🤣
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Beautiful photos! I once watched two bald eagles harassing a raft of coots near the shore of a lake just outside Seattle. I’d never seen such a large and tight grouping of coots and was puzzled until I noticed the eagles diving at them. The eagles worked together – one diving to try to frighten and scatter the group of coots, the second swooping in right after when it was easier to try to isolate a single coot. But the coots were determined to remain together for protection – they moved fast, almost like a single organism. The eagles weren’t successful that day (for which I was grateful; I didn’t want to see that). I later learned that migrating coots are a favorite food of bald eagles.
Thanks for sharing your insights and experiences, Rebecca. There are definitely some bald eagles at the wildlife refuge where I shot these photos, though I did not see them interacting with the coots. There were three coots that I spotted near the shore that were separated from the group that might have become potential targets. They were swimming around in little circles together, not making any attempts to feed.
Yeah, the zoome in is remarkable! RED EYES ABOUND!
Thanks. I am glad you too noticed those red eyes–they are a little creepy, especially because I spotted them the day before Halloween.
All those red eyes – fantastic image!
Thanks, Eliza. You must have enlarged the image–the red eyes become really prominent when you do that.
What a nice find, Mike. I’ve never seen such a raft of them and, on a much smaller scale, they remind me of congregations of flamingos that I’ve seen.
I’ve never seen these birds at all so seeing this many must have been exceptional. Of course, at first I imagined a bunch of my contemporaries poling around like Huck Finn.
Wondrous! I resemble that old coot remark!
Thanks, Molly. I think that using the expression “old coot” shows that we are old enough to deserve to be called one–I don’t think the younger generations use that expression. 🙂
[…] in the waters off of Occoquan Bay Wildlife Refuge last week and featured in a posting entitled A raft of coots, I also saw three coots near to the shore swimming around in a little circle like they were lost. I […]