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Bird name:

Eurasian Coot

Fulica atra

Order

GRUIFORMES

Family

Rails and Coots (Rallidae)

Code 4

EUCO

Code 6

FULATR

ITIS

176290

ILLUSTRATION

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PHOTOS

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SUMMARY

Overview

Eurasian Coot: Medium, squat marsh bird, all black with white bill, frontal shield. Eye-rings are red, legs are yellow-gray. Feeds on aquatic plants, insects, amphibians, mollusks and small fish. Agressive towards other water birds. Swift direct flight on rapid wing beats, feet protrude beyond tail.


Range and Habitat

Eurasian Coot: Found in slow moving fresh or coastal waters. Very rarely appears in the Pribilof Islands of Alaska, Newfoundland, Labrador.

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SONGS AND CALLS

Listen to Call

Eurasian Coot

Voice Text

"kowk"

INTERESTING FACTS

  • The Eurasian Coot is able to compress its feathers and squeeze out all of the air, which allows it to dive deeply and for longer periods.
  • They are reluctant to fly, and when taking off they run across the surface of the water splashing as they go.
  • If food becomes scarce, the young birds may be killed by the parents.
  • A group of coots has many collective nouns, including a "codgery", "commotion", "fleet", "shoal", and "swarm" of coots.

RELATED BIRDS

RANGE MAP

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TERMINOLOGY

CREDITS

Author

Gary Owen Dick

Artist

David Wenzel

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Frontal shieldX
The area where the bill extends onto the forehead of the bird. It is often brightly colored and is meant to grab the attention of other birds.
4 and 6 letter alpha codesX

The four letter common name alpha code is is derived from the first two letters of the common first name and the first two letters of common last name. The six letter species name alpha code is derived from the first three letters of the scientific name (genus) and the first three letters of the scientific name (species). See (1) below for the rules used to create the codes..

Four-letter (for English common names) and six-letter (for scientific names) species alpha codes were developed by Pyle and DeSante (2003, North American Bird-Bander 28:64-79) to reflect A.O.U. taxonomy and nomenclature (A.O.U. 1998) as modified by Supplements 42 (Auk 117:847-858, 2000) and 43 (Auk 119:897-906, 2002). The list has been updated by Pyle and DeSante to reflect changes reported by the A.O.U from 2003 through 2006.

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ITIS CodesX

The Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) was established in the mid-1990�s as a cooperative project among several federal agencies to improve and expand upon taxonomic data (known as the NODC Taxonomic Code) maintained by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

To find the ITIS page for a bird species go to the ITIS web site advanced search and report page at http://www.itis.gov/advanced_search.html. You can enter the TSN or the common name of the bird. It will return the ITIS page for that bird. Another way to obtain the ITIS page is to use the Google search engine. Enter the string ITIS followed by the taxonomic ID, for example "ITIS 178041" will return the page for the Allen's Hummingbird.

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Parts of a Standing birdX
Head Feathers and MarkingsX
Parts of a Flying birdX