A close look at a Coot

On 12 July 2014, I went on a drive SE of the city, to Frank Lake and surrounding backroads. While at the blind (hide), this adult Coot walked right past me, giving a chance to see its huge feet and the rather beautiful feathers on its back. From a distance, these birds appear to be plain black.

"The waterborne American Coot is one good reminder that not everything that floats is a duck. A close look at a coot—that small head, those scrawny legs—reveals a different kind of bird entirely. Their dark bodies and white faces are common sights in nearly any open water across the continent, and they often mix with ducks. But they’re closer relatives of the gangly Sandhill Crane and the nearly invisible rails than of Mallards or teal." From AllAboutBirds.

www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Coot/id

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coot