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American Coot
Fulica americana
[Published in 1927:
Smithsonian Institution United States National Museum Bulletin
135: 358-371]
Except in the northeastern states and provinces, where it
occurs only as a migrant and not very commonly, everybody who
knows birds at all is familiar with the plainly dressed, but
exceedingly interesting, coot or "mud hen" or "blue
Peter." For it enjoys a wide distribution over most of the
North American continent, in which it is very abundant at some
seasons of the year in all suitable localities, breeding from the
"fur countries" to the West Indies and resident the year
round in the southern part of its range.
I first became acquainted with this curious bird in the North
Dakota sloughs, those wonderful wildfowl nurseries of the western
plains, teeming with a varied bird life in which the coot played a
prominent part, as a conspicuous, noisy, and amusing clown. Among
the flocks of ducks, floating on the open water, a few of the
somber, gray birds, with black
heads and conspicuous white bills, were always in evidence; they
were constantly startling us by splashing and spattering off over
the water, as we started them from the reedy borders; and to the
ceaseless din made by the rhythmic notes of countless
yellow-headed blackbirds, the loud,
guttural voices and varied calls of the coots played a fitting
accompaniment. They were never quiet and their antics were often
entertaining.
Spring.--The coot is a hardy bird
and an early spring migrant, pushing on northward as fast as
advancing spring melts the ice in the ponds, often arriving while
there is still some ice. M. P. Skinner tells me that, in
Yellowstone Park, "they come just as soon as the ponds begin
to melt"; he has seen them there as early as April 11. A. D.
Henderson has known them to reach northern Alberta, Lac La Nonne,
as early as April 16. He has seen them at Bear Lake when "the
lake was still full of ice, but there was a narrow strip of open
water along the shore on which were thousands of ducks with the
coots and a few Canada geese."
Courtship.--The best account of
the courtship of the coot is given by Dr. Alexander Wetmore (1920)
as he observed it at Lake Burford, New Mexico, as follows:
Many were in pairs on the date of my arrival, but until June
5 small flocks of unmated birds remained feeding in the open bays
or rested in little bands on open beaches. Toward the latter part
of this period these flocks at short intervals presented a scene
of great animation as the birds displayed and fought savagely with
one another. A little later on the companies broke up entirely.
Each male selected an area of shore line in the tules and remained
near this constantly, guarding it jealously, taking frequent
occasion to drive away ducks and eared grebes who might chance to
trespass, and having many fights with neighboring males. In these
encounters they drove at each other with heads extended on the
water and wing tips elevated. When near they began striking
viciously with their bills and then, lying back, struck heavily
first with one large foot and then the other, a most effective
means of fighting as their claws were long and sharp, and their
leg muscles powerful. Each tried to guard against these blows by
seizing the feet of his antagonist so that often the two held each
other by means of their feet, while they thrust savagely with
their bills. The females frequently took part in these squabbles
also, so that sometimes three or four birds were engaged, at one
time, while neighboring males came rushing up also seeming minded
to interfere. When they separated the males sometimes rested for
several minutes with heads down on the water and wing tips raised,
eyeing each other like two game cocks.
Their mating actions were interesting. Males frequently
rushed after females, paddling over the surface of the water with
flapping wings, while the females made off in the same manner, 10
feet or so ahead. Frequently the females made merely a pretense at
escape, striking out with their feet and making a great splashing
but traveling slowly, but if too closely pressed they dove,
leaving the males looking about for them on the surface. In the
most common act of display the male came paddling out with head
and neck prostrate on the water, wing tips raised high above the
tail, and the tail spread and elevated so that the white markings
on either side were very prominent. As he came near the female
usually assumed the same attitude. When 2 or 3 feet away the male
turned and presented the prominently marked tail to the female,
swimming off slowly and returning to repeat the performance. This
action was seen constantly whenever coots were under observation.
Paired birds often swam toward one another from a distance of
several feet with heads extended on the water calling "kuk
kuk kuk kuk." As they met they assumed a more erect attitude
and then as they brushed against one another and turned about they
dabbled in the water with quick jerks of the open bill that threw
drops of water from side to side. Frequently the female reached
over and worked her bill gently through the feathers on the male's
head and then lowered her head while he preened her feathers in
return.
Nesting.--The same observer says
in regard to nest building:
In building, the female arranged the dead stems of the round
stalked Scirpus occidentalis to form a platform, bending them over
and striking them repeatedly with her bill to make them stay in
position, causing a peculiar knocking, hammering noise that at
this season was to be heard in the rushes on all sides. Frequently
the first one or two eggs of a set were laid on a mere platform
and the completed nest built up later, depending perhaps upon the
need of the female for a place to deposit her eggs. A complete set
of seven eggs with incubation begun was seen on June 7 and after
this sets were common. The males seemed to take no part in nest
building, but stood about in the rushes a few feet away. This
guard continued as the eggs were laid and incubation began. When
the females were on the nest it was amusing, as I approached
slowly in the boat, to see the males stalk truculently down and
slide into the water, eyeing me closely all the while. Frequently
at this season they rose on the surface of the water, treading
heavily for a few strokes, making a loud turmoil in the water and
driving themselves backward for a foot or more with the force of
the effort, apparently a threatening act intended to frighten away
an intruder.
I made my first acquaintance with the nesting habits of the
coot in Nelson and Steele Counties, North Dakota, in 1901; since
then I have seen many coots' nests, for it is an abundant bird in
all suitable prairie sloughs. The nests are usually partially, or
well, concealed in the bulrushes (Scirpus) or flags (Typhus) about
the borders of the sloughs or marshy ponds; sometimes the nests
are in plain sight near the edge, or in an isolated clump;
occasionally one is seen in an entirely open situation with no
concealment whatever. The nest is usually a floating structure,
under which one could pass the hand without obstruction, but it is
generally firmly attached to growing reeds or flags, to prevent
drifting. Whatever material is most readily available, bulrushes,
flags, reeds, or grass, is used and firmly woven into a
substantial basket; the inner cavity, which is hollowed just
enough to hold the eggs, is neatly lined with pieces of dry flags
or other smooth material. An average nest, well concealed in a
thick clump and containing 10 eggs, measured 14 inches in outside
and 7 inches in inside diameter, the rim being 8 inches above the
water. A larger nest, in a more open situation and containing 15
eggs, measured 18 inches outside and 7 inches inside, but the rim
was only about 4 inches above the water. The largest nest I ever
measured contained only 9 eggs but was 20 by 15 inches in outside
diameter and built up 7 inches above the water. These are normal
types.
John G. Tyler writes to me that he found about 15 pairs of
coots nesting in a shallow pond of about 40 acres near Fresno,
California, on June 18, 1917; the nests were "all built of
green wire-grass stems and anchored in patches of grass in water
averaging a foot deep."
Robert B. Rockwell (1912) describes several other types of
nests found in the Barr Lake region, Colorado, as follows:
In the large number of nests examined were found a wide
variation in construction and location. Most of the nests were
built well out toward the edge of the cat-tails over water 3 or 4
feet deep, others were built in close to shore in very dense
cat-tail thickets. One nest was found built on dry ground, another
fully 2 feet above the ground on a platform of dead cat-tails,
with a neat runway leading up to it; and still another nest fully
4 feet above ground in the lower branches of an apple tree, the
water of the lake having receded that much after having inundated
the orchard. Two nests were seen far out on open water that were
readily visible at a distance of 100 yards. One nest was found
that looked exactly like a grebe's nest; another was built
entirely of weed straws; still another entirely of freshly cut
green cat-tails and one over deep water was made entirely from
green moss brought up from the bottom of the lake.
Eggs.--The number of eggs in a coot's
nest varies from half a dozen to two or three times that number;
normal sets usually run from 8 to 12 eggs; as many as 16 or even
22 have been recorded, probably the product of more than one bird.
The shape of the eggs varies but little from ovate, but they are
often quite pointed. The shell is smooth with a very slight gloss.
The ground color varies from dull "pinkish buff,"
rarely, to "cartridge buff," which is the usual color.
It is thickly and evenly covered with very small spots and minute
dots of very dark, or blackish, brown. The measurements of 122
eggs average 49 by 33.5 millimeters; the eggs showing the four
extremes measure 53 by 32.5, 52 by 36, and 41.5
by 30 millimeters.
Young.--The period of incubation is
21 or 22 days. It is shared by both sexes and the male often
stands on guard while his mate is sitting. The eggs are apparently
laid on successive days and incubation is continued more or less
regularly during the laying period, for one, or sometimes two,
young birds hatch each day during the hatching period. The young
are decidedly precocial, leaving the nest soon after they are
hatched and swimming about in the vicinity; they can swim and dive
almost as well as their parents and their ability to remain under
water is astonishing. Grinnell, Bryant, and Storer (1918) say:
"In two instances youngsters not more than a day old were
observed to remain under water nearly three minutes as timed by a
watch. They could be seen clinging to vegetation beneath the
surface until apparently forced to come up for air."
Dr. Joseph Grinnell (1908) writes:
A quite significant and interesting fact was noted in that
the feet of the young grew far more rapidly in proportion than the
rest of their body. A half-grown mud hen has astonishingly large
feet, and after observing the ease with which the youngsters swam
and dived (apparently just as well as the adults), the relative
importance of those members to the early success of the individual
seemed plain. The young of a family near camp returned with both
parents to the old nest each evening at dusk, but much squabbling
and jostling, accompanied by various toots, grunts, and cries,
took place before they were all finally settled for the night.
Plumages.--The downy young coot
is a grotesque but showy little chick; a black ball of down with a
fiery head. The almost bald crown is but thinly covered with
hairlike black down; the upper parts are thickly covered with
glossy black, long, coarse down, mixed with long, hairlike
filaments, which vary in color from "orange chrome" on
the neck and wings to "light orange-yellow" on the back;
the lores, chin, and throat are covered with short, stiff, curly
hairs, varying in color from "flame scarlet" to
"orange chrome"; the bill is "flame scarlet,"
with a black tip; the under parts are thickly covered with dense,
furlike down, very dark gray to almost black, with whitish tips.
While raising young ducks and coots from eggs in Manitoba we
had a good chance to study their development. The young coot grows
rapidly, especially the feet and legs, which soon seem out of
proportion; but it is slow in assuming its plumage. The first,
light grayish plumage appears on the breast when the bird is about
4 weeks old and about one-third grown; it is still covered with
dark, sooty gray down and the orange hairs have not wholly
disappeared. The wings do not start to grow until it is at least 2
months old. In this full juvenal plumage the upper parts vary from
"hair brown" to "chaetura drab" more brownish
on the back; the chin, throat and neck are "deep neutral
gray," mottled with grayish white; and the under parts are
mottled with neutral grays and whitish.
During the fall and winter a gradual molt of the contour
plumage produces steady progress towards maturity; but traces of
immaturity persist all through the first year; young birds have
much more white in the under parts, chin, throat, and belly, and
they have not yet developed the white bill and frontal shield. The
young bird becomes practically adult after the first postnuptial
molt, when over a year old. Adults have a complete molt in August
and September and a very limited, partial prenuptial molt in the
early spring.
Food.--The coot is quite omnivorous,
living on a varied bill of fare at different seasons. Most of its
food is obtained on, under, or near the water of its marshy
haunts; but it is no uncommon sight to see it walking about on the
marshy shores or even on dry land picking up its food in a lively
fashion after the manner of domestic fowl. Sometimes far from the
water it may be seen in flocks clipping off the green grasses in
the meadows or pulling up the sprouting grain on cultivated land.
It feeds largely on leaves, fronds, seeds and roots of aquatic
vegetation, such as pond weed (Potamogeton), the tops of
water milfoil (Myriophyllum) and the seeds of bur reed (Sparganium).
Much of this food must be obtained by diving to moderate depths,
at which it is an expert. It is very fond of wild celery, some of
which it steals from the canvasbacks and other ducks. In the great
duck shooting resorts of Virginia and North Carolina coots
congregate in enormous numbers in winter to feed on wild celery
and the foxtail grass, both favorite duck foods. In California,
according to John G. Tyler (1913), it still further annoys the
duck hunters by eating the grain thrown out to attract the ducks.
In some duck clubs coots have become such a nuisance that mud-hen
shoots have been inaugurated, at which sometimes as many as 5,000
coots have been killed in a day. Dr. Alexander Wetmore (1920) has
seen a coot, at Lake Burford, "eating algae and slime that
had collected on dead tule stems floating in the water. It fed
eagerly on this material seizing and stripping one piece after
another."
Its animal food includes some small fishes, tadpoles, snails,
worms, water bugs and other insects, and their aquatic larvae. It
has even been known to pluck the feathers off and partially eat
dead ducks. A bird, dissected by Doctor Wetmore (1926) in Puerto
Rico, had eaten "a number of small crustaceans, and a large
mass of eggs belonging probably to other crustaceans";
another "had eaten a large quantity of grass or sedge, with a
few small roots."
Behavior.--There is much that is
interesting in the behavior of the coot, characteristic of and
peculiar to this curious bird. The name of "spatterer"
has often been applied to it on account of its well-known habit of
rising noisily from the water; running along the surface, it beats
the water with wings and feet, splashing alternately with its
heavy paddles and making the spray fly, until it gains sufficient
momentum to fly; it has been suggested that this and other noisy
splashing antics are of use to frighten its enemies or warn its
companions. When well under way its flight is strong and direct,
much more vigorous and swifter than the flight of gallinules; the
neck is extended, with the conspicuous white bill pointing
slightly downwards, and the feet are stretched out behind, with
the toes pointing upwards, to serve as a rudder in place of the
useless little tail. The white tips of the secondaries show up
well in flight as a good field mark. It flies usually near the
water, or 10 or 15 feet above it, and seldom makes long high
flights except when migrating. It is much more likely to escape by
swimming or by scurrying off over the surface than by rising and
flying away as the ducks do. It is ordinarily not a shy bird,
unless persistently hunted.
It is a strong rapid swimmer, floating higher in the water than
the ducks or the gallinules, with the back more level, less
submerged forward. When either swimming or walking it nods its
head in step with its foot movements, like a dove or a hen. Its
white bill, in contrast with its black head, fairly gleams in the
sunlight, an excellent field mark.
On land the coot walks about actively, often in a hunched-back
attitude suggestive of the guinea fowl; its lobed feet give it a
firm footing on soft ground, but do not impede it on firmer soil.
Dr. Charles W. Townsend has noted that it folds its toes as it
lifts its foot. Audubon apparently had never seen it dive, but it
is now well known to be a good diver, to obtain its food and to
escape its enemies. Dr. Townsend (1905) says that it "often
goes under water with very little effort; at other times it leaps
clear of the water like a grebe, with its wings pressed close to
its sides, its body describing an arc, and the head entering as
the feet leave the water."
I have often observed the peculiar antics of a coot when its
nest is approached; with head lowered until the bill almost
touches the water and with wings elevated behind like a swan's, it
paddles about splashing loudly and grunting a loud guttural "kruk,
kruk, kruk"; it often "backs water" vigorously with
both feet, raising the body backwards out of the water. Sometimes
it stands upright on its hind quarters, flapping its wings and
splashing with both feet. Such noisy demonstrations may be due to
nervous excitement or may be intended to scare us away.
Coots associate on their breeding grounds and in their winter
quarters with various species of ducks, with which they mingle
freely and never seem to quarrel. But with members of their own
species they are often very pugnacious and sometimes murderous. F.
W. Henshaw (1918) tells the following remarkable story:
Our boathouse rests in a cut opening out on Butte Slough, in
Colusa County, California. Between the end of the boathouse and
the current of the slough, there are 60 or 80 feet of still water;
three mud hens (Fulica americana) have taken possession of this
spot. They have grown quite tame; not only do they come up to the
boathouse for their food, but when hungry swim up and are
clamorously insistent with their "put-put-put." The men
have frequently told me that they were murderous fighters against
their own kind, and one day I was a witness of such a fight. A
strange mud hen swam from the creek into the quiet water. The
first of the three to see him attacked the stranger at once,
"putting" harshly, and the intruder gave battle without
the slightest attempt to retreat. They pecked at each other
savagely. The other two boathouse mud hens swam up to the fray,
one of them joining in, the other, the smallest of the three and
probably the female, simply looking on. In time they pecked the
strange mud hen into a state of exhaustion. It was manifestly too
weak to fly, but tried to make its escape by swimming. They
followed it up, and one actually stood on its body while the other
held its head under the water until it was dead. When satisfied of
this, they left it.
Coots indulge in quite a variety of grunting, croaking, and
squawking notes and are responsible for most of the noise coming
from the innermost recesses of a slough or tule swamp. Rev. J. H.
Langille (1884) says:
It is decidedly a noisy bird, its
"coo-coo-coo-coo-coo" being heard both day and night,
the first note being prolonged on a much higher key, while the
rest are somewhat accelerated. It will often "squack"
similar to a duck, and has other notes too unique and difficult of
description to be given here.
Mrs. Florence Merriam Bailey (1910) gives a very good idea of
the notes as follows:
As we walked along behind the tule hedge a confusion of most
remarkable sounds came from the tules where invisible coots were
swimming about--coughing sounds, froglike plunks, and a rough
sawing or filing "kuk-kawk-kuk, kuk-kawk-kuk," as if the
saw were dull and stuck. Often there was just a grating "kuk-kuk-kuk-kuk-kuk-kuk."
But all the mixed medley had the sound of good fellowship, and,
too, open fearless disregard of who might be passing the other
side of the tule screen--for who wanted coots?
Enemies.--On the Atlantic coast
and in Florida, where bald eagles are common, these cowardly birds
of prey seem to be the coots' worst enemies. C. J. Maynard (1896)
writes:
The eagle hovers over a bunch of coots and endeavors by
diving down towards the flock to make them scatter. The eagle will
never attack a coot when surrounded by its fellows, but the
instant one is separated from the flock his life is in jeopardy,
for, no matter how expertly he dives, his untiring enemy is above
him whenever he comes to the surface, and drives him further and
further from his friends, who will never attempt to protect him,
but who swim away as fast as their lobated toes would propel them.
But the chase, unequal in the outset, soon ends--the exhausted
coot rises for the air which it must have, when like a thunderbolt
falls the eagle and the lifeless waterfowl is borne away to
satisfy the hunger of the eaglets who are waiting, expectant, in
their stick-built home in the high top of some neighboring pine. I
have never seen the coots attempt to defend themselves even when
in a body, in fact, they always dive and scatter somewhat when the
eagle comes swooping downward toward them, but quickly gather
again as soon as they rise. The reason why the eagle tries to
separate one coot from its fellows must be that he can then trace
that particular bird, and by chasing it until it is exhausted,
effect its capture, whereas it would quite easily elude him if it
kept among its fellows. Among coots, their safety lies in numbers,
even if all be cowards, but the wonder is, not that the eagles
know this, but that the coots themselves do.
But the eagle is not always successful. The following incident
is related by Moses Williams, Jr., in a letter to Dr. Charles W.
Townsend:
An eagle after putting a large flock of ducks and geese to
flight in the usual way, approached a flock of some 200 coots.
They crowded together so that from our boat they appeared to be a
solid black mass. When he came over them, he dropped from a height
of about 25 yards to with a few feet. He did not swoop, but rather
comparatively slowly, pointed his flight downward. Immediately the
coots set up such a splashing that the black spot was converted
into a mass of white spray. The eagle hovered over them for a
moment, apparently looking for an individual to strike at and then
passed on. The splashing ceased only to begin again as he turned
and again stooped and the same thing happened three more times and
then the eagle gave it up and in two minutes the coots were again
in open formation and swimming about and feeding in their usual
animated way. We were all quite sure that the flock made no
attempt to get away, but did their splashing throughout on the
same spot. It seemed to me a very intelligent performance on the
part of a bird, which could not escape by flying or diving as the
other fowl can.
Fall.--The hardy coots not only
arrive early in their northern homes, but they are loath to leave
in the fall, lingering often until they are driven out by the
freezing of lakes. They gather into immense flocks before leaving
and hold noisy conclaves, as if discussing the propriety of
departure. On the morning after such a caucus the lake is usually
deserted, all having gone during the night. Sometimes they linger
too long and may be seen crowded in a dense black mass, perhaps
mingled with the hardier ducks, in some unfrozen water hole in the
ice. The fall migration takes the coots to
southern lakes and even to brackish estuaries near the coasts
where they mingle with the ducks and are often shot as game. But
they are hardly worthy to be classed as game birds; they are too
easy to kill and their flesh is not highly regarded. "Blue
Peters," as they are called, are good game for boys and they
help fill the pot when other game is scarce. While camping in
Florida we often found them a welcome addition to our larder, as
they are clean feeders and quite palatable.
Winter.--Below the frost line, from
California to Florida, coots are very abundant in all suitable
lakes, ponds, bayous, marshes, and marshy rivers, all through the
winter, where they are highly gregarious. But they are seldom seen
on salt water. Mr. Maynard (1896) writes:
The coots are remarkably abundant in the little ponds and
lagoons on the marshes which lie to the eastward of Indian River,
Florida. Here they have the habit of gathering together in a
nearly solid mass in the middle of the body of water on which they
float and it is exceedingly difficult to make them leave one of
these chosen resorts. Even when shot at those that are uninjured
will frequently remain while those which do fly, generally circle
around about and after a time return. I remember once of walking
along the margin of a narrow creek near Mosquito Lagoon, with my
assistant, when we encountered a large body of coots. At the point
where we found them the creek was only about 10 yards wide, and as
we could walk faster than the birds could swim, we were soon
abreast of them, but although we were so close to them none of
them attempted to fly, but as we passed the first portion of the
flock, the coots of which it was composed turned and swam back,
then, sheeplike, all followed, and we stood still while hundreds
of them swam past us. As the birds were crowded together,
somewhat, their ranks were quite wide so that the nearest birds
were only a few feet away.
Back Bay, Virginia, is a favorite winter resort for coots where
they find an abundant food supply in the seeds and tops of the
foxtail grass and other duck foods and where they steal the wild
celery from the canvasbacks and redheads. I thought I had seen
coots in Florida, but that was as nothing compared with the
countless thousands that I saw here in November. There were acres
and acres of them spread out over the smooth waters of the bay in
vast rafts. They were much tamer than any of the ducks and geese;
even these big flocks allowed our power boat to approach almost
within gunshot; and then they only pattered or flew away for a
short distance and then settled down again, thus making a pathway
for us through the vast flocks.
American Coot*
Fulica americana
*Original Source: Bent,
Arthur Cleveland. 1927. Smithsonian Institution United States
National Museum Bulletin 135: 358-371. United States Government
Printing Office
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