Species: Fulica americana

American Coot

Species

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Encyclopedia of Puget Sound

A dark henlike bird with a blackish head and neck, slate body (paler in juveniles), and a frontal shield that usually is small and maroon or dark brown (may become bulbous at peak of breeding season; a few have a white frontal shield); undertail coverts white on the sides, black in the middle; white trailing edge on wings; whitish bill; large feet with lobed toes (NGS 1983).

Classification

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Craniata

Class

Aves

Order

Gruiformes

Family

Rallidae

Genus

Fulica

NatureServe

Source:
ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.103406

Classification

Other Global Common Names

Gallareta Americana - foulque d'Amérique

Informal Taxonomy

Animals, Vertebrates - Birds - Other Birds

Formal Taxonomy

Animalia - Craniata - Aves - Gruiformes - Rallidae - Fulica - ) by Pratt et al. (1987).

Ecology and Life History

Migration

true - true - true - Generally arrives in northern breeding areas March-May, departs by October-November (in portion of range in which it is migratory, especially northern inland areas) (Bent 1926). Migrants arrive in Costa Rica generally by October, most depart by end of April (Stiles and Skutch 1989).

Non-migrant

true

Locally Migrant

true

Food Comments

Eats seeds, roots, and other plant material, insects, snails, small fishes, tadpoles, and other small organism; feeds on land and in water (at surface, by tipping up, and by diving) (Terres 1980).

Reproduction Comments

Clutch size is 6-22 (most often 8-12 in North America; average about 6 in Hawaii). Incubation lasts 23-24 days, by both sexes. Young are tended by both parents, though brood may be divided between them. First flies probably at 7-8 weeks. Usually renests if first clutch is destroyed (Condor 95:273-281); easily able to produce many additional eggs (Auk 109:407-421).

Ecology Comments

Nonbreeding: often in groups (Stiles and Skutch 1989).

Length

Weight

724

Conservation Status

NatureServe Global Status Rank

Global Status Last Reviewed

2005-10-06

Global Status Last Changed

1996-11-25

Distribution

Conservation Status Map

Global Range

BREEDS: east-central Alaska (casual), southern Yukon east through central Manitoba to Prince Edward Island, south locally to southern Baja California, Gulf Coast, Florida, Nicaragua and northwestern Costa Rica, West Indies (not Puerto Rico or Virgin Islands). WINTERS: Pacific coast, and north to the southwestern U.S., lower Ohio Valley, and Maryland, south throughout Middle America, southeastern U.S., and West Indies to Panama and probably Colombia. RESIDENT in Hawaii and in South America in the Andes from Colombia south to western Bolivia, northern Chile, and northwestern Argentina. (AOU 1983). Birds from North America apparently are regularly present as nonbreeding visitors in Hawaii (Pratt 1987).

ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.103406