One of the most ignored ducks, at least around here, is the American Coot (Fulica americana). They are everywhere, in nearly every body of water around. So today, I thought I would give them a little press time. I guess I ignore them, mostly because there are so many. I would be out driving looking for photo ops. I would see the ducks, and I would say to Ann, “Aw, them ‘er just some more coots.”, and we would just drive on, failing to appreciate them.
So on Saturday, New Years Eve day, we took a little drive thru the parks. Since the temps here reached the 80 degree mark, there were a lot of people in attendance. Pic-nickers, hikers, bikers, and disc golfers. The activity was keeping most of the birds away. But guess what? The coots were there, not bothered at all. They just done their thing of calmly swiming along, and occasionally diving for some morsel of some kind. So I am ashamed to admit, I only photographed them as a last resort.
American Coot swiming
American Coot diving
American Coot swiming again
Photographed with my Canon EOS 7D. Canon 500mm lens with 1.4 tele-converter. Exposure: 1/2500 sec. @ f8, -0.3EV, aperture priority. Handheld from window of my car, with Puffin’ Pad window support.
Texas Tweeties by Bob Zeller 