A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife
Project Noah Nature School
Fulica atra
The Eurasian coot is a mostly black member of the Rallidae, with the exception of a white facial shield and bill. The eyes are round and red. The juvenile on the third shot is paler with a whitish breast. The last shot shows the bird's habitat, in this case an alpine lake (Lauenensee, 1382m ASL).
Freshwater lakes and ponds. Distributed to Europe, Asia, Australia, and Africa, and has recently expanded its range into New Zealand.
The coot actually has some webbing on its toes. It is an excellent diver. On that day it was the only species of water bird on the Lauenensee; the species is aggressive and strongly territorial during the breeding season.
Spotted on Jul 28, 2011
Submitted on Aug 1, 2011
16 Comments
:-(
It was alright last week, this week back to 50C incl. humidity (and a mosque next door that not only gives us the normal prayer calls, but also - not Ramadan related - a Sermon once a day *sigh* yesterday twice, one for 1 hour. I really don't mind the prayer calls, they help me keep track of the day, but this is getting to me)
No worries! It mus be pretty bad down there at the moment!
Oh,... sorry :D
The heat has really fried my brain :-D
You haven't missed any option Nicole. What I was referring to is that the acronym Noah stands for Networked Organisms and Habitats...
'h' for habitat..... is that an option I've missed or do you just add a photo?
Thanks Alice, Elsa and Nicole. I like showing a bit of habitat: it's the "h" in Noah!
How did I miss the habitat pic?
It's truly awesome indeed!
Brilliant idea getting a habitat picture (especially when its that spectacular!). I like it!
I see we got a bonus picture at the end. You live in such a lovely part of the World!
Nicole, they just get very aggressive and territorial while they breed.
Thanks Atul! Haven't been able to go back to the unidentified duck to get better pics... I'm going to put the one I have up now, I can always replace it by a better series later (if it's still there...). Give me a few mins...
nice pics daniele
was waiting for your unidentified duck spotting
I didn't know they keep other birds away. :)
Thanks Nicole! I like them too, apart for the fact that they keep other water birds away! I was hoping to see more at that lake...
Nice catch!
I love these guys :)