American Coot

Description:

Medium-sized, chicken-like swimming bird, dark gray to black overall, short, white bill and undertail coverts. Toes are lobed, not webbed. Upper edge of frontal shield is red, but usually only visible at close range. Swift direct flight with rapid wing beats, feet protrude past tail.

Habitat:

John Bunker Sands Wetland Center, Seagoville, Tx. These ideas reflect and extend the vision of Bunker Sands, a holistic ranch management advocate, who directed the creation of over 2,100 wetland acres on Rosewood Ranches properties in Kaufman, Henderson, Ellis, and Navarro counties. The constructed wetlands included seasonal emergent wetlands, scrub swamps and flooded bottomland hardwood forest. Several of the original wetlands occurred at Rosewood’s Seagoville Ranch, the site of the Center and of the East Fork Wetland Project, developed and operated by North Texas Municipal Water District.