American Coots

We spend a lot of time at Mingus Park. As result we've been watching some amazing birds, including the American Coot. These amazing little water birds are so much fun to watch! So far, there have been two batches of babies born at the park this year. The bird pictured above is one of the mothers. She came right up to me just about when I was trying to get a picture. Check out those feet!

These are some of the nine babies that were born in the spring. These pictures are from June & they look even more like the adults now. They still mostly stick together also. They've been on their own for over a month now...I wasn't sure why until we found the 2nd batch of babies that were recently hatched. This batch is smaller, we've only seen 4 babies in the summer batch.

Here are two more from the spring batch. They are now smoother & are darkening up. They also have the red eyes & pale beaks that the adults have, and have lost the white running down the front of their necks.

I love this picture of the spring batch when I caught them up on the grass preening. I believe this picture was from the beginning of June, maybe the end of May.

Here are two from the summer batch. When they are first hatched they have red heads, yellow fuzz around the head and neck & fuzzy grey bodies. They actually blend in really well in the lily pads, and pretty much stick close to the lily pads while they are small. The mother's build nests in the lily pads.

Here's a pretty good close up...check it out you can see those amazing feet! This one is also from the summer batch.

Here comes momma bird on her way to feed the babies. At this age they seem to rely on momma to bring them food, but soon they will start foraging for themselves. Here are some good internet articles about the American Coot:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Coot ,

http://www.beakycoot.com/ , http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Coot/id

, http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/framlst/i2210id.html . Please enjoy this short video of the babies swimming around.

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