Wildlife Watching Wednesday: The American Coot

By: Tom Berg

As kids, we called the strange-looking, all-black ducks that we saw on local lakes “Mud Ducks”. But they were actually American coots. About the size of a small duck, the American coot (Fulica americana) is black or a very dark charcoal gray, with a white bill and a bright red eye. They also have a small dark red patch on their forehead. Their large, awkward-looking feet are an unusual whitish-green color.

American coots are not ducks at all, though. They are actually in the same family as rails and gallinules. They do not have webbed feet like ducks, either. Their feet have very long toes which help them walk on aquatic vegetation, but the toes also have broad lobes of skin that spread out and help them paddle through the water.

Although coots are mostly vegetarian, they also eat aquatic insects, snails and crustaceans. But their favorite foods are duckweed, cattails, rushes, water lilies, wild rice, and a wide variety of aquatic weeds. Since they spend most of their time in lakes and ponds, it is very easy for them to find plenty of food. They eat surface vegetation and also dive for submerged plants.

When American coots build their nests, they usually find a dense stand of cattails or bulrushes where they can make a floating nest out of vegetation. The nest is anchored to stalks or stems to keep it from floating away. The female usually lays 8-12 eggs in the nest and they sometimes have as many as two broods per year. Baby coots are amazingly alert and agile when born, and they typically leave the nest within six hours of hatching!

During their annual migration and during the winter, American coots gather in large flocks, often numbering in the thousands. And contrary to the belief of many waterfowl hunters, these coots are certainly edible. They are actually favored in some locales, especially in the deep south. It is generally accepted, though, that most duck species make better table fare than coots.

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