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Fulica americana
Coots are dark-gray to black birds with a bright-white bill and forehead. The legs are yellow-green. At close range you may see a small patch of red on the forehead. American Coot is one good reminder that not everything that floats is a duck.They are more closely related to Sandhill Cranes than any duck.
Look for American Coots at ponds in city parks, in marshes, reservoirs, along the edges of lakes, and in roadside ditches, sewage treatment ponds, and saltwater inlets or salt-marshes. Cots eat aquatic plants on almost any body of water. When swimming they look like small ducks (and often dive), but on land they look more chicken like.
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