10,000 Birds

There are just two common species of coot in the whole of the northern hemisphere - the Eurasian or Black Coot Fulica atra and the American Coot F. americana (the Red-knobbed Coot F. cristata is found throughout Africa and reaches southern Europe, but nowhere north of the equator is it found in such huge numbers as the two former species). Whilst coots ordinarily cause little more than a glance from most birders they do sometimes occur way out of range: F. americana has crossed the Atlantic to reach western Europe more than 25 times since records began, including 12 records in the Azores and six in Great Britain (I saw the very first one here way back in April 1996 at Stodmarsh, Kent). There have been few reciprocal visits to North America by F. atra though - the species “very rarely appears in the Pribilof Islands of Alaska, Newfoundland, Labrador” according to WhatBird.com. It’s an incredibly widespread bird that wanders quite extensively, so why has it not been discovered somewhere that twitchers can reach? Could it be because we here at 10,000 Birds haven’t done a photo-feature yet and many birders on the other side of the Atlantic aren’t sure what to look for? Possibly. It’s time to put that right then…

Similar in size and habits (ie black, aggressive, quarrelsome, and fond of duck-ponds), the two species are readily separable: our coot, F. atra is called Black Coot for a good reason - it’s black from the top of its head to the tip of its tail; F. americana is black too, but in the kind of flashy exhibitionism that Nearctic birds specialise in American Coots have their outer undertail coverts adorned with a lavish splash of - er - white.

Black Coot, Chew Valley, UK. Nov 2007

American Coot, Bolsa Chica, California. January 2008

Need another difference? In the kind of over-the-top shout-it-from-the-rooftops attention-drawing colouring that separates New World warblers from Old World warblers, F. americana has an extraordinary, glowing ruby red ‘knob’ at the top of a bill that is enlivened with a dusky ring splitting the white distal third from the - er - white basal two-thirds, where F. atra only manages a swollen frontal shield and a monochrome bill.

Black Coot, Chew Valley, UK. Nov 2007

American Coot, Bolsa Chica, California. January 2008

These startling differences can be seen even when the two species engage in the vicious, street-fighting-style of kicking and scratching behaviour that is unique amongst birds [can someone check that for me please?] - behaviour that gave rise to the well-known saying “Bald as a Coot”, when old country-folk noticed that after these amazing shows of aggression the birds seemed to have had all the hair on their heads pulled out [you might want to check that too while you’re at it]…

Black Coot, Chew Valley, UK. Nov 2007

American Coot, Bolsa Chica, California. November 2007

So there you are, two of the world’s most exotic and interesting birds (yes, okay, I’m going to stop now - they’re both COOTS…I tried, I really tried, but what can you do, eh?). Anyway now I really want to hear back from the birder who finds a Black Coot in Central Park and says, “You know, I owe my discovery to Charlie and 10,000 Birds!”