I saw a small group of American Coots at the Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge in mid December last year. They mingled with Mallards, but they are not ducks since their feet are not webbed. They are also called mud hens and are closely related to Moorhens or Common Gallinules.
American Coots are mainly dark, almost black, with a white face and red eyes, with a patch of red on their forehead. They mainly eat plants. Since they are not an endangered species, they may be hunted but not as much as ducks since hunters disdain their meat!
Helen C said:
Where are the feet, Hien? 😉 So hard to believe that their feet are not webbed…
Have a great evening.
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neihtn2012 said:
Helen, the whole time I was there, maybe 20 minutes, they were swimming and I never saw their feet.
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Sukanya Ramanujan said:
For the longest ever time I didn’t even know that the coot was a bird. I was just used to the phrase ‘a crazy coot’. Then finally I saw a coot on a birding trip and I was like ‘hmmm’.
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neihtn2012 said:
Perhaps the term “crazy coot” comes from the fact that this bird does not fly easily and must run quite a bit before becoming airborne.
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v4vikey said:
Gorgeous! I love that Bird
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neihtn2012 said:
Thanks!
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elleturner4 said:
Lovely photos….interestingly I have posted on Moorhens today!! 🙂
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neihtn2012 said:
A nice coincidence! Those Moorhen images are really intriguing.
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elleturner4 said:
They seem to make your eyes see things a bit wrong! Thanks 😀
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quietsolopursuits said:
Excellent photos of the coots! They may not have webbed feet like true ducks do, but I think that their feet are even more interesting than a duck’s.
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neihtn2012 said:
You are right. Their lobed feet are quite unusual!
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Tiny said:
Nice pictures! They look pretty much like Moorhens.
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neihtn2012 said:
Thanks Tiny. I haven’t see a Moorhen in real life yet, so these American Coots will have to do for the moment. 🙂
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Indah Susanti said:
I have no idea that there is such differences – if I don’t read your post, I would think it is a duck! 🙂 Thank you!
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neihtn2012 said:
I used to think of them as ducks, until I looked them up online. Thanks for visiting Indah, and I hope winter in Minnesota won’t be too bad this year, just for you.
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kiaman2012/Greg said:
Perfection!
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neihtn2012 said:
You are very kind, Greg, but I’m glad you like the images!
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