1FTR
Loc: Pacific Northwest - Portland area
Mud hens, marsh hens, rails, coots--the American coot. The only member of the rail family to live in flocks, they are on the eagles' menu--kind of like eagle's mud hen bars. Having played some amateur baseball, I'm all over the Toledo Mud Hens but I never knew that Mud Hen chicks were so ugly cute! I'll be on the lookout for them this spring. I find it fascinating that so many wildlife lovers, particularly birders with binoculars, take such an interest in a bird I pretty much maligned. This group/flock is usually in the tall marsh grass but I found them here on a grassy bank--right below two eagle lookout trees! I do find them graveling on occasion.
1FTR wrote:
Having played some amateur baseball, I'm all over the Toledo Mud Hens but I never knew that Mud Hen chicks were so ugly cute!
Do you mean the "chicks" that follow the Toledo Mud Hens, or the actual birds?
1FTR
Loc: Pacific Northwest - Portland area
LOL Don't know about the former; was referring to the actual--although I've only seen them in pics.
1FTR wrote:
Mud hens, marsh hens, rails, coots--the American coot. The only member of the rail family to live in flocks, they are on the eagles' menu--kind of like eagle's mud hen bars. Having played some amateur baseball, I'm all over the Toledo Mud Hens but I never knew that Mud Hen chicks were so ugly cute! I'll be on the lookout for them this spring. I find it fascinating that so many wildlife lovers, particularly birders with binoculars, take such an interest in a bird I pretty much maligned. This group/flock is usually in the tall marsh grass but I found them here on a grassy bank--right below two eagle lookout trees! I do find them graveling on occasion.
Mud hens, marsh hens, rails, coots--the American c... (
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Personally I think they are a very maligned bird, so to showcase their delicate beauty I have attached two. Most golfers hate them for popping on the greens. Here, Redtail's love them, (easy pickens ) makes feeding the kids easier.
not so bad looking....
cute coot
In southern Louisiana, we call them pouldoos or pouldeauxs; french for water chickens. Don't hold me to the spellings, though.
1FTR
Loc: Pacific Northwest - Portland area
Very interesting. I'd never heard nor read that before. Do you (all) eat them? Being an English undergrad, had to check: "The American coot (Fulica americana), also known as a mud hen or pouldeau." And, yes, they are commonly called ducks, but is this duck or mud hen? "Poule d' eau Gumbo (pronounced Pouldoo) [an old Traditional favorite especially around Houma, LA]." AND, I was ready to not mudalign mud hens anymore, but I gotta tell you this eagle tree looks down on the grassy knoll where the flock was yesterday--species safety in numbers? On the other hand, I guess they were not in the grass today.
1FTR
Loc: Pacific Northwest - Portland area
My typical view of a coot.
Nalu
Loc: Southern Arizona
Yes, maligned, however they have amazing feet and are excellent bird photography practice trying to capture them when they chase one another around the pond.
1FTR wrote:
Very interesting. I'd never heard nor read that before. Do you (all) eat them? Being an English undergrad, had to check: "The American coot (Fulica americana), also known as a mud hen or pouldeau." And, yes, they are commonly called ducks, but is this duck or mud hen? "Poule d' eau Gumbo (pronounced Pouldoo) [an old Traditional favorite especially around Houma, LA]." AND, I was ready to not mudalign mud hens anymore, but I gotta tell you this eagle tree looks down on the grassy knoll where the flock was yesterday--species safety in numbers? On the other hand, I guess they were not in the grass today.
Very interesting. I'd never heard nor read that be... (
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S
Some people eat them though not many. They have a very large gizzard for the size bird they are and are often hunted just for that one item. My grandmother always encouraged me to shoot a few so that she could have the gizzards for gumbos and other dishes.
1FTR
Loc: Pacific Northwest - Portland area
Seem easy shooting unlike Chuckars.
I've never seen so many Coots in one spot before - most I have ever seen at any one spot was 5 but almost always its just 1 or 2
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