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Coot
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<h2 id="taxonomy-and-systematics">Taxonomy and systematics</h2> <p>The <a href="/facts/Genus/m8EFjSms">genus</a> <i>Fulica</i> was introduced in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist <a href="/facts/Carl_Linnaeus/gy5HWkHS">Carl Linnaeus</a> in the <a href="/facts/10th_edition_of_Systema_Naturae/8H6KJrLJ">tenth edition</a> of his <i><a href="/facts/Systema_Naturae/8o4rU1DD">Systema Naturae</a></i>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:1" href="#fn:1"><sup>1</sup></a> The genus name is the <a href="/facts/Latin/pM3Kge85">Latin</a> word for a <a href="/facts/Eurasian_coot/aptUFy4r">Eurasian coot</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:2" href="#fn:2"><sup>2</sup></a> The name was used by the Swiss naturalist <a href="/facts/Conrad_Gessner/m4DqHYJx">Conrad Gessner</a> in 1555.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3"><sup>3</sup></a> The <a href="/facts/Type_species/kL03T6V4">type species</a> is the Eurasian coot.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4"><sup>4</sup></a> </p><p>A group of coots is referred to as a <i>covert</i><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5"><sup>5</sup></a> or <i>cover</i>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:6" href="#fn:6"><sup>6</sup></a> </p> <h3>Species</h3> <p>The genus contains 10 extant species and one which is now extinct.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:7" href="#fn:7"><sup>7</sup></a> </p> <table><tbody><tr><th>Image</th><th>Scientific name</th><th>Common name</th><th>Distribution</th></tr><tr><td></td><td><i>Fulica alai</i> <a href="/facts/Titian_Peale/kIbXFBIC">Peale</a>, 1848</td><td><a href="/facts/Hawaiian_coot/z9QIQhS6">Hawaiian coot</a> or <i>ʻAlae keʻokeʻo</i></td><td>Hawaii</td></tr><tr><td></td><td><i>Fulica americana</i> <a href="/facts/Johann_Friedrich_Gmelin/D6vkCly0">Gmelin</a>, 1789</td><td><a href="/facts/American_coot/erBUtodG">American coot</a></td><td>southern Quebec to the Pacific coast of North America and as far south as northern South America</td></tr><tr><td></td><td><i>Fulica ardesiaca</i> <a href="/facts/Johann_Jakob_von_Tschudi/9Ez1x3Ju">Tschudi</a>, 1843</td><td><a href="/facts/Andean_coot/pMjoatzm">Andean coot</a></td><td>Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru</td></tr><tr><td></td><td><i>Fulica armillata</i> <a href="/facts/Louis_Pierre_Vieillot/fIQs3wym">Vieillot</a>, 1817</td><td><a href="/facts/Red-gartered_coot/jv6d65Gb">red-gartered coot</a></td><td>Argentina, southern Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay</td></tr><tr><td></td><td><i>Fulica atra</i> <a href="/facts/Carl_Linnaeus/gy5HWkHS">Linnaeus</a>, <a href="/facts/10th_edition_of_Systema_Naturae/8H6KJrLJ">1758</a></td><td><a href="/facts/Eurasian_coot/aptUFy4r">Eurasian coot</a> or common coot</td><td>Europe, Asia, Australia, and Africa</td></tr><tr><td></td><td><i>Fulica cornuta</i> <a href="/facts/Charles_Lucien_Bonaparte/PunLn0Xz">Bonaparte</a>, 1853</td><td><a href="/facts/Horned_coot/UUWz0bSj">horned coot</a></td><td>Argentina, Bolivia, Chile</td></tr><tr><td></td><td><i> Fulica cristata</i> <a href="/facts/Johann_Friedrich_Gmelin/D6vkCly0">Gmelin</a>, 1789</td><td><a href="/facts/Red-knobbed_coot/ccQR6Hlr">red-knobbed coot</a></td><td>Africa, Iberian Peninsula</td></tr><tr><td></td><td><i>Fulica gigantea</i> <a href="/facts/Joseph_Fortun%25C3%25A9_Th%25C3%25A9odore_Eydoux/o1lHIfv7">Eydoux</a> & Souleyet, 1841</td><td><a href="/facts/Giant_coot/rz0yI5X7">giant coot</a></td><td>Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Peru</td></tr><tr><td></td><td><i>Fulica leucoptera</i> <a href="/facts/Louis_Pierre_Vieillot/fIQs3wym">Vieillot</a>, 1817</td><td><a href="/facts/White-winged_coot/qLHEgsfn">white-winged coot</a></td><td>Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Falkland Islands, Paraguay, Uruguay</td></tr><tr><td></td><td><i>Fulica rufifrons</i> Philppi & Landbeck, 1861</td><td><a href="/facts/Red-fronted_coot/vW83sEXF">red-fronted coot</a></td><td>Argentina, southern Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, southern Peru, Uruguay</td></tr></tbody></table> <h3>Extinct species</h3> <h4>Recently extinct species</h4> <ul><li>†<i>Fulica newtonii</i> <a href="/facts/Alphonse_Milne-Edwards/3IX9lMLJ">Milne-Edwards</a>, 1867 – <a href="/facts/Mascarene_coot/dHohB4zS">Mascarene coot</a> (<a href="/facts/Extinction/24p5NP2q">extinct</a>, c. 1700)</li></ul> <h4>Late Quaternary species</h4> <ul><li>†<i>Fulica chathamensis</i> <a href="/facts/Henry_Ogg_Forbes/8GTm5t4k">Forbes</a>, 1892 – <a href="/facts/Chatham_Island_coot/SJplS0E1">Chatham Island coot</a> (<a href="/facts/Early_Holocene/gr9BAWXQ">early Holocene</a> of the <a href="/facts/Chatham_Islands/rrjd670d">Chatham Islands</a>)</li> <li>†<i>Fulica montanei</i> Alarcón-Muñoz, Labarca & Soto-Acuña, 2020 (late Pleistocene to early Holocene of <a href="/facts/Chile/uEyTfEcx">Chile</a>)<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:8" href="#fn:8"><sup>8</sup></a></li> <li>†<i>Fulica prisca</i> <a href="/facts/Augustus_Hamilton/B9CPIq81">Hamilton</a>, 1893 – <a href="/facts/New_Zealand_coot/y3C9r4nT">New Zealand coot</a> (early Holocene of <a href="/facts/New_Zealand/4mpSlJdg">New Zealand</a>)</li> <li>†<i>Fulica shufeldti</i> – (<a href="/facts/Late_Pleistocene/jKVh7yXL">late Pleistocene</a> of <a href="/facts/Florida/cF245A3Q">Florida</a>) possibly a <a href="/facts/Chronospecies/vRHe5aHg">paleosubspecies</a> of <i>Fulica americana</i>; formerly <i>F. minor</i></li></ul> <h4>Fossil species</h4> <ul><li>†<i>Fulica infelix</i> <a href="/facts/Pierce_Brodkorb/zEHlt9Xu">Brodkorb</a>, 1961 – (early <a href="/facts/Pliocene/MjcIVQ86">Pliocene</a> of <a href="/facts/Juntura%2c_Oregon/lEltYNoa">Juntura</a>, <a href="/facts/Malheur_County%2c_Oregon/2yxpuCsF">Malheur County</a>, Oregon, USA)</li></ul> <h2 id="description">Description</h2> <p>Coots have prominent <a href="/facts/Frontal_shield/hs76eAEV">frontal shields</a> or decoration on their foreheads, with red to dark red eyes and coloured bills. Many have white on the under tail. The featherless shield gave rise to the expression "as bald as a coot",<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:9" href="#fn:9"><sup>9</sup></a> which the <i><a href="/facts/Oxford_English_Dictionary/qaxKX8Bc">Oxford English Dictionary</a></i> cites in use as early as 1430. Coots have long toes with broad lobes of skin that allow them to kick and propel themselves through the water. The lobes of skin fold back each time the coot lifts its foot, allowing them to walk on dry land while also providing support in mucky terrain.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:10" href="#fn:10"><sup>10</sup></a> They tend to have short, rounded wings and are weak fliers, though northern species nevertheless can cover long distances. They typically congregate in large rafts in open water. Along these rafts coots may lay eggs in their own nest or in some other bird’s. Depending on the species of coot the eggs can vary in color: buff, pinkish buff or buff-gray speckled with dark brown, purplish brown, or black.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:11" href="#fn:11"><sup>11</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="distribution-and-habitat">Distribution and habitat</h2> <p>The greatest species variety occurs in South America, and the genus likely originated there. They are common in Europe and North America.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:12" href="#fn:12"><sup>12</sup></a> Coot species that <a href="/facts/Bird_migration/GvraPhgn">migrate</a> do so at night. The <a href="/facts/American_coot/erBUtodG">American coot</a> has been observed rarely in Britain and Ireland, while the <a href="/facts/Eurasian_coot/aptUFy4r">Eurasian coot</a> is found across Asia, Australia and parts of Africa. In southern Louisiana, the coot is referred to by the French name "poule d'eau", which translates into English as "water hen".<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:13" href="#fn:13"><sup>13</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="behaviour-and-ecology">Behaviour and ecology</h2> <p>Coots are omnivorous, eating mainly plant material, but also small animals, fish and eggs.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:14" href="#fn:14"><sup>14</sup></a> They are aggressively territorial during the breeding season, but are otherwise often found in sizeable flocks on the shallow vegetated lakes they prefer. </p><p>Chick mortality occurs mainly due to starvation rather than predation as coots have difficulty feeding a large family of hatchlings on the tiny shrimp and insects that they collect. Many chicks die in the first 10 days after hatching, when they are most dependent on adults for food.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:15" href="#fn:15"><sup>15</sup></a> Coots can be very brutal to their own young under pressure such as the lack of food, and after about three days they start attacking their own chicks when they beg for food. After a short while, these attacks concentrate on the weaker chicks, who eventually give up <a href="/facts/Begging_behavior_in_animals/L1NCUEc5">begging</a> and die. The coot may eventually raise only two or three out of nine hatchlings.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:16" href="#fn:16"><sup>16</sup></a> In this attacking behaviour, the parents are said to "tousle" their young. This can result in the death of the chick.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:17" href="#fn:17"><sup>17</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="external-links">External links</h2> Look up <i>coot</i> in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Wikimedia Commons has media related to <i>Fulica</i> and <i>Rallidae</i>. <ul><li><a href="http://ibc.lynxeds.com/family/rails-coots-rallidae">Coot videos</a> on the Internet Bird Collection</li> <li>Beach, Chandler B., ed. (1914). <a href="https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_New_Student%27s_Reference_Work/Coot">"Coot" </a>. <a href="https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_New_Student%27s_Reference_Work"><i>The New Student's Reference Work</i> </a>. Chicago: F. E. Compton and Co.</li></ul> <h2 id="references">References</h2> <ol> <li id="fn:1"><p>Linnaeus, Carl (1758). Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (in Latin). Vol. 1 (10th ed.). Holmiae (Stockholm): Laurentii Salvii. p. 152. <a href="/wiki/Carl_Linnaeus" target="_blank">/wiki/Carl_Linnaeus</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:2"><p>Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 165. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4. <a href="978-1-4081-2501-4" target="_blank">978-1-4081-2501-4</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:3"><p>Gesner, Conrad (1555). Historiae animalium liber III qui est de auium natura. Adiecti sunt ab initio indices alphabetici decem super nominibus auium in totidem linguis diuersis: & ante illos enumeratio auium eo ordiné quo in hoc volumine continentur (in Latin). Zurich: Froschauer. p. 375. <a href="/wiki/Conrad_Gessner" target="_blank">/wiki/Conrad_Gessner</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:4"><p>Peters, James Lee, ed. (1934). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 2. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p. 211. <a href="/wiki/James_L._Peters" target="_blank">/wiki/James_L._Peters</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:5"><p>"What do you call a group of ...?". Oxford Dictionaries. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on May 1, 2011. Retrieved 19 April 2011. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110501131302/http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/page/collectivenouns_us" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20110501131302/http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/page/collectivenouns_us</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:6"><p>"Baltimore Bird Club. Group Name for Birds: A Partial List". Retrieved 2007-06-03. <a href="http://baltimorebirdclub.org/gnlist.html" target="_blank">http://baltimorebirdclub.org/gnlist.html</a> <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:7"><p>Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (July 2021). "Flufftails, finfoots, rails, trumpeters, cranes, limpkin". IOC World Bird List Version 11.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 19 August 2021. <a href="/wiki/Frank_Gill_(ornithologist)" target="_blank">/wiki/Frank_Gill_(ornithologist)</a> <a href="#fnref:7" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:8"><p>Alarcón-Muñoz, Jhonatan; Labarca, Rafael; Soto-Acuña, Sergio (2020-12-01). "The late Pleistocene–early Holocene rails (Gruiformes: Rallidae) of Laguna de Tagua Tagua Formation, central Chile, with the description of a new extinct giant coot". Journal of South American Earth Sciences. 104: 102839. Bibcode:2020JSAES.10402839A. doi:10.1016/j.jsames.2020.102839. S2CID 225031984. <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0895981120303825" target="_blank">http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0895981120303825</a> <a href="#fnref:8" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:9"><p>"Coot | The Wildlife Trusts". www.wildlifetrusts.org. Retrieved 2024-06-01. <a href="https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/wildlife-explorer/birds/wading-birds/coot" target="_blank">https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/wildlife-explorer/birds/wading-birds/coot</a> <a href="#fnref:9" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:10"><p>"American Coot Overview, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology". www.allaboutbirds.org. Retrieved 2025-03-13. <a href="https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Coot/overview" target="_blank">https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Coot/overview</a> <a href="#fnref:10" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:11"><p>"American Coot Life History, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology". www.allaboutbirds.org. Retrieved 2025-03-09. <a href="https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Coot/lifehistory" target="_blank">https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Coot/lifehistory</a> <a href="#fnref:11" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:12"><p>Olson, Storrs L. (1974). "The Pleistocene Rails of North America." Museum of Natural History. <a href="#fnref:12" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:13"><p>"American Coot". <a href="http://losbird.org/labirds/amco.htm" target="_blank">http://losbird.org/labirds/amco.htm</a> <a href="#fnref:13" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:14"><p>Ornithology, British Trust for (2015-04-07). "Coot". BTO - British Trust for Ornithology. Retrieved 2024-06-01. <a href="https://www.bto.org/understanding-birds/birdfacts/coot" target="_blank">https://www.bto.org/understanding-birds/birdfacts/coot</a> <a href="#fnref:14" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:15"><p>"This Coot has a Secret! - NatureOutside". 20 June 2015. <a href="http://www.natureoutside.com/this-coot-has-a-secret/" target="_blank">http://www.natureoutside.com/this-coot-has-a-secret/</a> <a href="#fnref:15" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:16"><p>The Life of Birds, David Attenborough. The Problems of Parenthood. 10:20. <a href="/wiki/The_Life_of_Birds" target="_blank">/wiki/The_Life_of_Birds</a> <a href="#fnref:16" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:17"><p>Clutton-Brock, TH., The Evolution of Parental Care, Princeton University Press, 1991 p. 203. <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=uRS2WusqW8kC&dq=coots+attack+chicks&pg=PA203" target="_blank">https://books.google.com/books?id=uRS2WusqW8kC&dq=coots+attack+chicks&pg=PA203</a> <a href="#fnref:17" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> </ol>