Things you need to know about COOTS!

Coots are a common sight on ponds, lakes and rivers around the UK. They are also found throughout mainland Europe, Asia, Australia and new Zealand and even some parts of Northern Africa. From a distance their most noticeable features are their almost jet black plumage and striking white beak which runs up to a white bulge across their foreheads. This is known as a frontal plate or frontal shield and this is where the term bald as a coot comes from. I’ll get onto the purpose of this shortly. If you get a closer view of a coot, you may also notice their 2 or I guess 4 other unusual features. Adult coots have dark red eyes and instead of having webbed or unwebbed feet, theirs are somewhere in between. They have fleshy lobes of skin coming from the sides of their toes which helps them to create more propulsion when paddling but also less resistance from the water when dragging their feet behind them. Coots are slightly larger than their cousin the moorhen and have a wingspan of around 75cm and can grow to weight of up to 800gramms.
With their skin feathered toes, coots are great swimmers and use this to their advantage when searching for food. They dive beneath the surface in search of small fish, aquatic invertebrates and vegetation to feed upon.
Spending their lives on or under water can give coots protection from some predators and an abundant source of food, but it also creates an issue when it comes to nesting and laying eggs. To solve this they either build a platform up out of the water in the shallows or attach their nest to living vegetation so that it floats above the waters surface. They begin the construction of this from February to late march when a pair will form and start to be very territorial to other coots and sometimes other species of waterfowl. With the nest complete and any rivals or incursions prevented, the female will lay between 5 and 7 lightly speckled olive coloured eggs that measure around 53milimetres in length. One egg is laid per day and incubation starts after the second egg is laid. This takes 3 weeks and means that the chicks can hatch out at daily intervals. When they do first emerge coot chicks are very different in appearance to their parents. They have dark red bases to their beaks, bald heads and fiery orange strands emerging from their otherwise grey to black fluff. It is thought that these brighter markings can demonstrate to the adults how healthy a chick is and if food becomes scarce in the first few days after hatching, the parents may choose to stop feeding or sometimes even kill the weaker chicks. After a week or two, the male and the female split the brood and take on full parental duties for only their half of the chicks. 5 to six weeks later the chicks are well grown, capable of flying. Coots will usually only nest once per year if they are successful at rearing their chicks but if their nest fails they can attempt a second or even third batch of eggs.
In the UK Coots don’t migrate in the winter but this isn’t the case across the globe. There are currently around 31,000 pairs of these birds in the UK and although their average lifespan is 5 years, the oldest bird on record was 15 years, 3 months and 13 days when it died in 1978.
#britishbirds #coot #birds
Footage and images used in this video were obtained using creative commons licences:
• The Eurasian Coot Nurs...
• The Eurasian Coot
• Feeding Time - Eurasia...
• Eurasian Coot On A Pond
• Baby Coots being tende...
• FUJIFILM XF70 300mmF4 ...
• Cute Coot Family
• Eurasian Coot (the oth...
• Foulque macroule - Eur...
• Coot
• Coot
• Coot diving for food
• Coot hatchling
• Eurasian Coot | Focha ...
• Focha común, galiñola ...
• Coot squeaking
• Baby Coots being tende...
• Cute Coot Family
• Coot chicks, West Park...
• Animals Planet | Coot ...
• Coot Chick having some...
• Coots pairs nest in Ca...
• Coot With Its Eggs
• Black coot お魚咥えたオオバン 東...
• Waterhens? Coot? ,Fuli...
• Lovely Black Coots Enj...
• Coots (Fulica atra) a...
• meerkoeten / common coot
• Eurasian Coot | Focha ...
• Canon S95 Test Movie 6...

[@ferociousgumby]

We have coots here in Canada, in the Vancouver area. There are whole flocks of them, making that odd little sound and diving under the water. I LOVE their feet! They don't look like any other bird feet I've ever seen.

[@paulannable3734]

Coot’s feet! I honestly learn something new every time I watch one of these films.

[@AShotOfWildlife]

Great, thats the idea and I hope you continue to do so.

[@NaturallyCuriousUK]

Good round up of Coot facts there buddy! Gotta love those feet! 👍🙂👍

[@shreem6913]

Always just called them goth ducks haha. Cool to know their name and learn a bit about them :)

[@gabrielafarkasova9751]

Haha, the same. Saw some of them just yesterday while feeding ducks, called them goth ducks and just today found out what they really are

[@Petemonster62]

This specie of Coot is also found in North America. They have the nick name " Mud Hens ". The comeback of the Bald Eagle has been hard on them as many are preyed upon by the Eagles.

[@dexocube]

The next time somebody compares me to one, I'll tell them it's for identification purposes. Thanks Liam

[@dezzalondon8101]

Very interesting! Didn't know there were only about 30,000 pairs in the UK - we must have most of those in London, lol. They can be incredibly aggressive not just towards their own, but also towards much larger species - I've photographed one attacking a Mute swan and also seen them attack Canada geese. Fascinating about how the parents split a brood up into two halves.

[@yourepika9738]

There's a family of Eurasian coots I've been feeding since March. It's been so amazing watching the young coots grow and go through so many drastic changes in colour, changes in feet, etc.

[@HelenaMikas]

Great video and true , Coots are amazing .They are nesting now near where I live and hope all goes well .Have a fabulous week ..👍💚

[@Bertil_Lundin]

Thanks Liam for the facts about the Coots! Great video as always. Greetings and have a good week! // Bertil.

[@jessesanchez4412]

We got so many of these in Florida during the colder seasons. Good number of them stay throughout feb during their breeding season as well. Skittish little things

[@robinhampshire8923]

Should have added that these 'Shots' are a really good introduction to our commoner wild birds, many thanks!

[@AShotOfWildlife]

Thank you Robin.

[@ellis1676]

I love these birds, there are about 50+ at my local park currently but that is just on one side of the pond, I like how they just congregate, minding their own business with ducks, swans, geese and the odd seagull.

[@klaasdeboer8106]

I saw a documentary oabout coots in the Netherlands, where the originally very shy coots have conquered the canals in the city, theyr nests are very interesting, looking like collections of plastic garbage. I heard that the city coots are very different in behaviour from the countryside coots and have become separate populations. Coutryside coots are still sensitive to disturbance, but the city coots in amsterdam don't care about kings day with thousands of partying people on the canals, I even heard that the city coots are becoming genetically different.

[@PapunBhattacharya]

Nice video. Beautifully captured.

[@TSUNAMI-MAMI]

They’re so cute! Kinda like the UKs version of a loon.

[@AShotOfWildlife]

We have loons here too, but we call them divers. The red throated diver is what I believe most north Americans and Canadians call loons.

[@robertcorradi8573]

Excellent as always .... Thank you Liam.

[@garypritchard3446]

Thanks yet again

[@umewiq]

I love coots fr fr, so cute!

[@madamepigeon]

Very nice little documentary!!👏🏼👏🏼👍🏼😁

[@matthewmallinson4934]

Great video I've just subscribed awesome content thankyou informative and conscice

[@AShotOfWildlife]

Cheers. Welcome to the channel.

[@sarahfields288]

I always get coots and moorhens mixed up

[@bobholyoake8577]

Thanks 💯🙏

[@agnieszkakwasniewicz]

nice video

[@AShotOfWildlife]

Thank you!

[@daftphil9706]

Awesome video! Dare iI say it?? You have re-ignighted a fasination and love of birds that my father endevoured to instill in me.

[@leelucas720]

Great 👍

[@AShotOfWildlife]

Thanks!

[@BorisKOUKA]

great video thanks. they are one of the only birds to have a double colored peack. and depending on their colour you can know if their are sick and what's do they need to feed to feel better. The red part come from the same protein than the carrot : the carotid

[@SwanFamilyandFriends]

Most people see the crazy side of these birds but the male and female have lots of tender moments when nesting. The males will go up to the nest and bow their heads while the female preens them etc

[@VrajeshP]

great video.. following

[@leafline]

Thank you for your videos, they are always packed with interesting informations and not too long. Take care😁

[@FeraForus]

Really great video! As always lots of information, looking forward to the next one.

[@AndyAstbury]

I never knew that about the frontal plate Liam, so you've educated me again matey - who needs that Packam geezer when we've got Liam!

[@ramblingrob4693]

I like Packham, an Liam is Good too. Both Good.

[@cutecoots]

Coots ❤❤❤

[@ferociousgumby]

The only thing you didn't include was the sound they make! It's quite squeaky and rusty, and distinct.

[@ber5599]

Great video very informative is that your own footage?

[@AShotOfWildlife]

Thank you. This video and the other Fact-file type videos on this channel use a mix of my own footage and creative commons clips, links to the original clips are in this videos description. The wildlife walk videos use only the footage I have filmed on that day. Cheers!

[@robinhampshire8923]

"After the breeding season, Coots abandon their territoriality and gather into flocks, where our resident birds are joined by immigrants from continental Europe (Migration Atlas)". (I am NOT an expert, but was puzzled by the comment about them not migrating)

[@AShotOfWildlife]

Hi Robin. Thanks for the comment. These videos are specifically about UK populations. I believe I said "in the UK coots don't migrate, but this isn't the case around the world". I should have perhaps added that although resident birds stay all year, they are joined by winter migrants. Cheers.

[@Sur-Ron]

What do they eat? I have a pair nesting at the back of my boat

[@alisonreeder1587]

Hello. How do you know the ages of the oldest birds are they ringed or is it just hearsay. I enjoy your videos but just need to know this

[@intothedragon]

What can we feed to coot?

[@AShotOfWildlife]

They will probably eat corn, mixed seeds, peas and other fresh greens :)

[@intothedragon]

@@AShotOfWildlife thank you. I live in Rotterdam and I've been following a couple of coots that live right in front of my home for 4 years, the channel they live is all brickwork and there are no natural plants for them to eat, they only survive by eating the algae from the deep of the channel. Last year only one chick survived and I saw them abandoning the other 4 to be eaten by the seagulls. Very sad scene. the little poor thing. I'm sure this is because of the lack of food. Last week she laid 5 more eggs for this season and I think the same will happen again. I really want to feed them to avoid too many chick losses. Let's see, I will try corn.

[@nicbaeten]

They say that this kind of birth is more delicious than a land chicken and it is a delicatesse. Is that really thrue?

[@AShotOfWildlife]

I have no idea. I wouldn't expect there to be much meat on them and as their diet is what it is, I think they'd probably taste fishy.

[@Mohamed-pz7tw6hr8f]

كيف افرق بين الذكر والأنثى

[@Tiltchannel101]

Coots are great. Especially when mating and nesting. Ever seen a human build a nest together with a coot? kzbin.info/www/bejne/l6Cng5JvbJqMjqs

[@highgatehandyman6479]

As a fisherman i dread these guys. Its both surreal and soul destroying as they swim over and dive on all your bait ( on every cast ) futile. Like watching money burn

[@nevillej9408]

We seem to have lost a lot of Coots and Otters have been blamed..