Coot duck
The coot duck, small in size, belonging to the shepherd family, has become widespread in the Eurasian, North African and Australian territories. She is easily recognizable in the photo among other waterfowl, thanks to her unique appearance.
Coot duck
Distinctive external features
The black duck with a white beak in the photo immediately stands out with its white frontal spot. In this case, the plaque in males is most pronounced. In the southwestern part of Spain and on the territory of Morocco, it is easy to see a similar species of coots - the crested, which differs from the classic one by the presence of two red leathery balls on the snow-white frontal spot.
The body length of a coot duck reaches 40 cm (usually 36-38 cm), its wingspan varies from 20 to 24 cm. Coots weigh on average 0.5-1.0 kg.
One of the largest members of the family is the black giant duck, which grows up to 60 cm in length and weighs from 2 to 3 kg.
The body of the bird is slightly flattened on the sides. Feathers on the head, in the neck area and in the upper part of the body are of a dark gray, close to black, shade, the plumage is matte, casting gray on the spine. The plumage of the chest and abdomen is slightly lighter.
A sharp beak against a general black background is pronounced in its white color, although it is small in size. Paws are also distinguished in birds: they are painted yellow or orange.
Geography of residence
The greatest variety of species can be seen in South America, where 8 out of 11 existing species have found their habitat. Many of them settled in the highlands on the Andovian lakes at an altitude of 3 to 6.5 thousand meters above sea level. On the territory of Russia, only one species of coots has taken root: the black common duck with a white beak, or bald. In addition to this type, there are also:
- crested,
- Hawaiian,
- white-winged,
- horned,
- westind,
- andean,
- red-faced,
- giant,
- yellow-billed,
- American.
Birds living in the Northern Hemisphere are migratory birds and cover rather long distances for them during the migratory season. Coots move to wintering grounds mainly at night.
The geographical area is limited to the Atlantic and Pacific coast. Birds are found in New Zealand territory. In the European part, they can be seen almost everywhere, with the exception of only the Scandinavian regions. Single nests have been recorded in the area of Svalbard and the Faroe Islands.
The main places for coots to live are taiga, steppe reservoirs and forest-steppe, where there are bodies of water with fresh or slightly salted water. For wintering, birds choose sea bays and large lakes.
Features of lifestyle and behavior
Unlike other members of the shepherd family, the coot spends most of its life on the water surface. Swimming blades located on the side of the toes help the birds move through the water. The specific structure of the pelvic bone serves coots for diving, and strong paws are naturally adapted for movement on viscous soils.
Coots differ from other waterfowl representatives by their openness: for a longer period of time the duck is in open water. In this way, they are similar to related moors.
During the protection of their nests, coots stand out for their particular aggressiveness. This behavior is typical for them and during the conflict. Birds assume specific threatening poses and can engage in fights with each other.
In females and males of coots, the combination range of sounds emitted differs markedly from each other. If the female screams loudly, then the male's cry is muffled, hissing intonations prevail in it. Unlike many birds, coots do not use sound signals during the mating season.
Diet
The main food of coots is plant food, among which plant shoots and fruits stand out. Birds are much less likely to hunt various insects, crustaceans and molluscs living on the water. Sometimes they feast on small fish, and also break other people's eggs. However, the proportion of animal food in the total diet of coots does not exceed 10%.
Coots feed preferably in flocks, settling in shallow water.
Among the aquatic vegetation, coots most often feast on duckweed, pondweed, pinnate, charovy algae. Sometimes they take away duck and swan prey.
Coots are able to get food for themselves both on the shore and in the water column. In shallow waters or in deep sections of the river channel (reaches), they collect food on the water surface or plunge into the water column with their head, beak and partly body, diving to river depths from one meter to one and a half.
Mating season and nesting
The mating season falls on the time of returning to their native lands, when most of the reservoirs were freed from ice. Courtship of males is distinguished by special activity: birds vigorously beat their wings, soaring into the air or running along the surface of the water. At the same time, in relation to neighbors, coots behave aggressively, periodically entering into conflict situations.
Coots are monogamous birds: one male has only one female for the entire period of his life.
During the nesting season, coots begin to avoid fast rivers and open water, moving to shallow water conditions in reed, reed or sedge thickets. The nest of coots can rest on the bottom, but in most cases it is floating. It is built from last year's grassy vegetation and looks like a loose heap of rubbish. The distance between adjacent nests reaches half a meter, and when strangers approach, the bird begins to aggressively guard its home.
Huge nests are obtained from giant and horned coots. The sizes of their brood houses can be up to 4 m in diameter and rise up to 0.6 m in height.For the horned coot, it is preferable to settle in nests on stones, for which it rolls stones to the nesting site with its beak, the total weight of which may eventually be in limits up to 1.5 tons.
During one nesting period, the coot lays 2, sometimes 3 ovipositions, each of which contains from 6 to 12-16 eggs with a sandy shell and speckled. With each subsequent laying, the number of eggs decreases.
After about a day, the chicks covered with black down are already able to follow their parents on their own, but they begin to get food for themselves only after a week or two. The grown up young generation after 60-80 days from the moment of birth begins to stray into small flocks, which persist until the autumn flight.