American Coot by Cosine
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No AI - This artwork was created entirely by hand or with traditional digital tools.
Description
No, not me, the bird.
Often mistaken for a duck, the American Coot is a common waterbird. Its all black body and white chicken-like beak distinguish this swimming rail from the real ducks.
Although it swims like a duck, the American Coot does not have webbed feet like a duck. Instead of having all the toes connected by webs, each coot toe has lobes on the sides of each segment.
The Coot is a very common bird in the US, but this is the only decent photo I got on this visit. The Ridgefield NWR is one of those places where the animals are free to roam, but the people have to stay in their cars, so getting a good shooting angle can be a challenge. We saw several Bald Eagles while we were there, but they were all in trees, and against the bright sky they were just silouhettes.
Comments (17)
Beautiful capture...
Awesome capture, especially considering how you had to shoot it ...
Fantastic close up Dennis. If I am not mistaken these birds are excellent divers, am I right? Sig...
Nice portrait!
Terrific capture and appreciate the added information.
great shot
Gorgeous shot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A great shot of this bird.
I love the way the ripples and the bird's wet feathers reflect the low angle light! What a great portrait :)
This is an interesting picture with an informative lesson to accompany it. I find it interesting that the head and neck on this bird look more like velvet than feathers. Thanks for the lesson because I sure didn't know all of this stuff about a coot. And I liked your sense of humor, too.
I like your contribution to the floating bird fashion at renderosity, this American Coot is a look a like of the "Meerkoet" we have in Holland!! ( Meer = lake, Koet is pronounced as Coot!!!) They are very common in the area were I live, but never realized that you can make very beautiful photo's of them, and they are pretty, and their youngsters are funny and ugly, at least the European ones!! I like your capture!!! Have a nice evening Henk
Cute Coot ....... lol
Even considering the technical difficulties, this is a wonderful shot. I like how the water waves around his body. Excellent!
Nicely captured, y'ol'coot! :) (Somebody had to go there - it might as well be a friend!) So... it floats, but it's not a duck ... therefore ... not a witch?
L amen there auntietk LOL You did a wonderful job of capturing this ole coot, Dennis L He/She's beautiful and the first time I have ever seen one! TY for sharing!
Gotta love those eyes!!!!!! We've got lots of these guys around here too!!!!
Hmmm.....I didn't know there was such a thing. Quite interesting.