The American Coot, insert old coot joke here, I'll wait. Felt good to get that off your chest, rigfht? So, the Coot is an interesting bird. First note the purple "bump" on the top of the forehead and the band around the beak near the front. That becomes more red in breeding season. I also watched a flock of coot smim in a line, maybe 40 or 50 of them, out from shore then form a line roughly parallel to the shore and all furiously swim back toward shore pushing their potential meals in front of them. And they sound funny!
