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American Coot Fulica americana Focha Americana,
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Photo: G. Beaton
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American Coot Fulica americana Focha Americana,
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Photo: G. Beaton
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| IDENTIFICATION: A dark gray---almost
black--- waterbird with a white bill; it has a smaller white facial shield
than the Caribbean Coot. Length: 32-43 cm.; weight:
427-848 g.
VOICE: A prolonged, reedy croak, as well as other notes. Audio 2 (M. Oberle). HABITAT: Freshwater lakes, ponds and marshes. HABITS: Feeds on aquatic plants, plus fish, snails, worms, crustaceans, and insects. It sometimes eats eggs of other birds. It feeds at the waterÆs surface or by diving. In North America, both sexes build the nest, which is a floating platform anchored in marsh vegetation. Both sexes take turns incubating the 8-12 eggs over 21-25 days. Soon after hatching, the chicks leave the nest and follow parents to feed. Chicks fledge at about 49-56 days. STATUS AND CONSERVATION: A common winter visitor from North America; rarely breeds in Puerto Rico. Coots banded in Delaware and Wisconsin have been recovered in Puerto Rico. The pioneering ornithologist, Alexander Wetmore, said that this species was a common breeder in Puerto Rico in the early 20th Century and that "country people searched the marshes systematically for their eggs, so that few escaped." He noted a flock of 300-400 birds, many of them young, at Laguna Tortuguero. It is possible that his informants might have confused the two Coot species, or that American Coots may have bred more commonly in Puerto Rico then. In fact, articles in older literature often use the same Spanish name for the two coots. RANGE: Breeds from southern Canada south into Mexico, Central America and the western Antilles. Winters in the West Indies and from coastal British Columbia and southern New England south through the rest of its breeding range. A regular location to find this species is at the Humacao Nature Reserve. TAXONOMY: GRUIFORMES; RALLIDAE |
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Photo: G. Beaton
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Photo: G. Beaton
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Photo: M. Oberle
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References Brisbin, I. L., Jr., H. D. Pratt, and T. B. Mowbray. 2002. American Coot (Fulica americana) and Hawaiian Coot (Fulica alai). In The Birds of North America, No. 697 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA. del Hoyo, J., A. Elliott, and J. Sargatal, eds. 1996. Handbook of Birds of the World, Vol. 3. Hoatzin to Auks. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. Ehrlich, P.R., D.S. Dobkin, and D. Wheye. 1988. The birderÆs handbook: a field guide to the natural history of North American birds. Simon and Schuster/ Fireside, NY. Lyon, B.E. 2003. Egg recognition and counting reduce costs of avian conspecific brood parasitism. Nature 422(April 3):495-499. Ortiz Rosas, P. 1981. Guía del cazador: aves de caza y especies protegidas. Depto. de Recursos Naturales, San Juan, PR. Pérez-Rivera, R.A. 1980. Algunas notas sobre migración de aves en Puerto Rico. Science-Ciencia 7(4):123-126. Raffaele, H.A. 1989. A guide to the birds of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Princeton. Raffaele, H.A. 1989. Una guía a las aves de Puerto Rico y las Islas Vírgenes. Publishing Resources, Inc., Santurce, PR. Raffaele, H.A., J.W. Wiley, O.H. Garrido, A.R. Keith, and J.I. Raffaele. 1998. Guide to the birds of the West Indies. Princeton. Saliva, J.E. 1994. Vieques y su fauna: Vieques wildlife manual. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Boquerón, PR. Taylor, B. Rails. 1998. Rails: a guide to the rails, crakes, gallinules, and coots of the world, Yale University and Pica Press. Next related species in taxonomic order Previous related species in taxonomic order |