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Fulica atra
The Coot is 32–42 cm long and is largely black except for the white facial shield. As a swimming species, the Coot has partial webbing on its long strong toes. The juvenile is paler than the adult, has a whitish breast, and lacks the facial shield. This is a noisy bird with a wide repertoire of crackling, explosive, or trumpeting calls, often given at night. The Coot is an omnivore, and will take a variety of small live prey including the eggs of other water birds, as well as algae, vegetation, seeds and fruit. Coots can be very brutal to their own young under pressure such as the lack of food. They will bite young that are begging for food and repeatedly do this until it stops begging and starves to death. If the begging continues, they may bite so hard that the chick is killed.
The Coot breeds across much of the Old World on freshwater lakes and ponds. This one was spotted in Tablas de Daimiel lagoons, in the ceter of spain
spanish name: focha comun Camera Model: NIKON D300 Exposure Time: 1/400 sec. ISO Speed Rating: 400 Focal Length: 300.0 mm Flash did not fire
Spotted on Feb 26, 2011
Submitted on Feb 13, 2012
10 Comments
Just added to "Ducks, swans and geese in Central Europe" mission
Added to Biodiversidad en España/Spain mission
Added to Biodiversidad en España/Spain mission
haha...same here, no worries ;)
Yes, you are right. It is only that ....
sometimes one gets tired of being so global.
Sometimes I feel like just writing the spanish name (focha) and the latin one.
That should be enough!!!
On the other hand, generally it is funny to learn the english name. It is amazing that they have a common name for almos any species, not only birds but also fungi, lichens, plants, ... anything!
I had it myself the past days...and I figured that Eurasian and American Coots are pretty similar (except minor differences of the bill and the leg's color - which you often can't see at all) - and both are real common in their regions. So I thought differing might make sense here. :)
You are right, Lars. I am a bit old fashioned sometimes
Better use the name Eurasian Coot, arlanda.
thanks SatyenMehta, cot is quite common but still is a beautiful duck
Lovely series Arlanda.