The Eurasian Coots (6pics)

The Eurasian coot (Fulica atra), also known as the common coot, or Australian coot, is a member of the rail and crake bird family, the Rallidae. It is found in Europe, Asia, Australia, New Zealand and parts of North Africa. It has a slaty-black body, a glossy black head and a white bill with a white frontal shield. The sexes are similar. Similar looking coot species are found throughout the world, with the largest variety of coot species living in South America. Wikipedia

Greeting friends.
Hi, @nelinoeva.

I saw these birds for the first time a week ago. To see them, I drove 1200 km from my house. This is the city pond where my son and his family live. Of course, I didn't come all this way to see coots, I brought my granddaughter, who stayed with us all summer. Now autumn has begun and the granddaughter has gone to school, to the 1st grade. There's a first time for everything.

They say that the territorial battles of coots are very spectacular and they still run fast around the lake, raising beautiful fountains of water. But I did not get to see such a sight.
During my visit to my son, I visited the lake every day. It was usually morning time.
A small flock of coots stayed in a part of the lake where there were few people. But they weren't afraid of my presence, so they shouldn't be afraid of other people either. Most likely, the reason lies in the fact that in places where there were many people, there were many mallard ducks. Most likely, the ducks won the territorial war and drove the coots to the deserted parts of the lake.

I stood around the coots for about 10 minutes and took many photos, but my main goal was squirrels. So I left the coots alone and went further along the lake to the squirrels.
Where are the squirrels? Who wants to see squirrels? They will be next time.

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