Rails, Crakes & Coots (Family Rallidae)

[Lisbeth]

Has lost the two red knobs

[nan]

I've got a lot like that

[Peter Connan]

As Toko has said, they nest on floating platforms that they manufacture mostly from reeds. It has a ramp on one side for access and a hollow on top to hold the eggs. This hollow is padded with softer materials, and when the parents leave the nest they will cover the eggs for camouflage.

The eggs start off yellow-green but become stained. Both birds incubate, and nesting material is added frequently, usually by the off-duty bird. They may also build "dummy nests" that they do not use, and breeding is often copoperative. In such cases the brood may be seperated for 2-3months.

The chicks are precocial and can dive soon after hatching. This is used as a predator-avoidance strategy, and the breast feathers form first for insulation. The Grey Heron is a major predator and the Coot is also sensitive to pollution, leading to infertility, egg failure and early chick mortality.

This is a Coot nest in the foreground. I have often seen Moorhens climb onto vacant Coot nests.

[Peter Connan]

Has lost the two red knobs

When not breeding the knobs may dissappear almost completely, but i think this is a youngster?

[Flutterby]

Nice choice Peter! The chick is very cute!!

[Lisbeth]

When not breeding the knobs may dissappear almost completely, but i think this is a youngster?

I am afraid that it is a normal Eurasian coot

[Peter Connan]

Ah, I see.

Thanks

[Lisbeth]

Sorry, Peter! I did not intend to be rude, but look, another interesting information on the red-knobbed coot came out of it

[Peter Connan]

No worries Lisbeth!

[Peter Connan]

The bill of th Red-knobbed Coot is stout and has sharp cutting edges to cut through the rushes etc. that they eat.

They walk and forage and will also dive for food, as well as surface-glean. They are especially partial to green grasses.