February 26, 2016
American Coots
You just gotta love a coot. An American coot, that is.
American coots are water birds that many folks would classify as ducks. They do, after all, look an awful lot like dark-colored ducks – from a distance. But if you take the time to observe more closely, you’ll notice that the bill is white, with a dark vertical mark near the tip. It’s conically shaped, not flattened. One would be inclined to say it’s more chicken like than duck like.
Furthermore, coots don’t quack like ducks, they kuk. A raspy, kuk-kuk, kuk-kuk-kuk – almost like the cluck of a chicken.
Finally, coots most certainly do not swim like ducks. Ducks glide smoothly through the water, driven by two webbed feet ideally suited to aquatic conveyance. The coot? Well, coots swim all right, but instead of webs their feet have fleshy projections called lobes. The result is a bird that more or less chugs through the water. Picture how a chicken’s head moves as it walks on land, and you’ll have the movement of a coot on water.
Coots actually are not ducks – or chickens – at all, but members of the rail family. Rails are seasonal inhabitants of area marshes; they are sometimes heard but seldom seen. Virginia rails, for example, have nested at St. Charles Park District’s Hickory Knolls Natural Area, but rarely were detected by passing visitors. Cryptically colored, rails blend in well with their surroundings. They also have thin, laterally compressed bodies that allow them to pass between the stems and stalks of marshy vegetation with barely a ripple.
But every family has its exceptions and, among rails, it’s the American coot. These birds, with bodies considered broad by rail standards, usually leave little doubt as to their presence. Their habits are quite conspicuous; in fact ornithologists have cataloged some 14 different displays coots use to communicate amongst themselves. They vary their body postures to show their white undertail coverts; arch their wings; cause their neck feathers to stand erect; and even swell their already-pronounced frontal “nose” shield in response to various activities in their midst.
When the time comes to leave an area, coots once again exhibit an inimitable style. They commence with much flapping and scrambling, splattering and splashing, literally smacking their way across the water before finally taking flight.
As far as diet is concerned, coots are anything but fussy. While the bulk of their intake typically is composed of aquatic plants, they’ll also consume insects, crustaceans and even small vertebrates like tadpoles—especially during breeding season. They’ll also take advantage of their waterfowl neighbors, snatching plants from dabbling ducks and helping themselves to diving ducks’ leftovers.
In fact, this opportunistic approach to feeding may be one reason I was lucky enough to encounter several coots just the other day. I was walking along the Fox River Trail, the stretch directly across Route 25 from Langum Park. If you’re familiar with that area, you might be able to picture the discharge pipe that releases a steady flow of water from the City of St. Charles’s sewage treatment plant into the river.
In general, up and down the Fox, wherever there’s a discharge pipe, there’s a good chance of finding wildlife of many types. The influx of nutrients aids plant growth and fosters many other microorgranisms that are essential links in aquatic food chains. Small fish consume these wee beasts and are in turn consumed by larger creatures, and so on, and so on…
The coots I saw, six in total, were dabbling, diving and seemingly having a grand time taking in the bounty of this rich area. So much so, in fact, that they actually didn’t notice me and my noisy, conspicuous, coot-like ways. I was even able to snap a couple of photos before they did detect me, and my camera, and took off amid much flailing and spattering.
If you’d like to try your hand at coot watching, you could certainly head to that stretch of the Fox River, which is just south of the Prairie Street bridge. (If you do go, look for lots of other waterfowl too, including common mergansers, common goldeneyes and buffleheads.) Other good bets are the lakes at Fermilab, where small numbers of coots have been sighted all winter.
Once the ice is gone and spring is here to stay, look for nesting coots at Nelson Lake Marsh, within the Dick Young Forest Preserve in Batavia. Train your eyes to look for dark, duck-like birds about 15 to 16 inches in length – notably smaller than our ubiquitous mallard ducks – with a white bill, black head, dark-gray body and dark, reddish-brown eyes. The coot’s distinctive white bill and bobbing swim motions soon will give it away. Then sit back and enjoy the fun.
Pam Otto is the manager of nature programs and interpretive services at the Hickory Knolls Discovery Center, a facility of the St. Charles Park District. She can be reached at 630-513-4346 or potto@stcparks.org.
American coots superficially look like ducks, but actually are members of the rail family. Their dark feathers, white, conical bill and nodding motion while swimming are distinctive.