I received this gorgeous photo of a coot parent with its chick this week (thanks to Richard Cousens for sharing) and so I thought I would make these entertaining birds the focus of my 50th anniversary blog this week.
Cute as a coot by Richard Cousens
You often hear the phrase 'bald as a coot', but as you can see from the photo, they are covered in feathers. Even the chick, though a little sparse on its head, has a flame of red and orange down. So where has the saying come from? Well the word 'bald' is actually derived from an old English word 'bala' which means 'white patch'. If you look at a coot, they have a white patch above their beak known as a 'knob' or a 'frontal shield'. It is this that has given rise to the term 'bald as a coot', rather than because they are featherless. Cool eh?
Coots have been present at Leighton Moss since the early days of the reserve, often in big numbers on Lilian's and Public pools. They are actually a really great indicator of the health of the water. As you can see from the picture, coots eat pondweed. They will also eat aquatic insects and their larvae too. In water of lower quality, these key plants and insects would be absent, or at least low in numbers,which would mean fewer coots, but where water quality is better, you begin to see more coots.
It might seem a little gruesome, but coots here are also important, as their young, like the young of black-headed gulls, are a key food source of marsh harriers. There are two male and four female marsh harriers on the reserve at the moment, so there will be plenty of hungry mouths to feed.
There are around 25,000 pairs of coots in the UK, so as a common waterbird, some may take them for granted, but I think they are great, and am incredibly fascinated by their feet! You don't often see a coot's feet, as they spend a lot of their time on the water, but if you ever see one on the land, have a good look. Trust me, they're incredible. Now, as a water-loving bird you may expect them to be webbed like a mallard's, or even long and pointed like a moorhen's, but a coot's feet are actually somewhere in the middle. They are 'lobed' or 'partly webbed', so the skin doesn't stretch right across the gaps, it is just in thick flaps that come off the sides of each toe. Check out this picture and you'll see what I mean....
Scrapping coots by Duncan Cooke
What do you reckon? Pretty strange aren't they, but fascinating non-the-less. They might not be the sort of feet your boyfriend would allow you to rest on his lap when you're watching TV, but they are perfect for swimming, which is what coots spend most of their time doing.
Coots might look fairly placid when they are scooting about the pools, picking at waterweed and diving for insects, but they can be very aggressive, particularly when they have young. They are also pretty vocal, often making a single note squeaking sound, which they do throughout the day and night.
This time of year is great for spotting them out and about with their fluffy chicks, so why not come and visit them this bank holiday weekend or half term week. There's lots of activities and events on to take part in too.