York University with a lake created by damming the local beck provides a wonderful habitat for waterfowl and many types can be seen whilst strolling around the lake. The birds are accustomed to human contact and I must say that I have never been this close to a Coot before. I was amazed by the feet, I do not think that I have ever seen Coot feet before and I think they are amazing!
4 comments:
is this an american coot or an eurasian one?
Hi YG, Good question, made me look up the differnces on Wikipedia, I am fairly certain that it will be the Eurasian one as it doesn't have the reddish brown spot at the top of the bill.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Fulica_americana.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Eurasian.coot.london.arp.jpg
john, but the one in your blog looks very much like the one in this picture . a big-foot american coot.
Hi YG, if you look along the line of the eye to the bald patch you can see there is a disc of grey which forms a scallop on the bald patch whereas the one in my photo has no scallop on the bald patch. I don't think that any American Coot have been introduced into the lake but I'll ask around to see if there has been. They have been noted as a rare winter visitor when they get blown off course during migration.
I enjoyed your posting today on the white bellied sea eagle.
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