American Coot (Fulica americana)

County List:

Rule:

Mixed Forested/Nonforested or Nonforested Landscapes

      Any Open Water
   adjacent to :
      (Any Emergent Wetland or Bog)

Habitat List:

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Literature:

Habitat: The American Coot occurs on freshwater marshes, lakes, ponds, and large rivers, though it may be found on saltwater during migration. Deep, open water with emergent vegetation on the periphery and surrounded by a bog or marsh is preferred habitat. The nest is usually made of a mound of vegetation that is barely above the waterline. The diet is chiefly aquatic vegetation with seeds, snails, other invertebrates and many other animals also included as food sources.

The future of the coot is dependent on the availability of small bodies of water with emergent vegetation around the periphery. Maintenance of water levels in wildlife refuges may be necessary to provide coots with suitable habitat.

Habitat: Breeding: Freshwater marshes, ponds, wet meadows, lakes, reservoirs, sewage lagoons, marshy borders of creeks and rivers with abundant emergent vegetation. Wintering: Ice-free fresh and brackish marshes along the coast.

Special Habitat Requirements: Shallow water 1 to 4 feet deep with emergent vegetation.

Habitats: Ponds, lakes, marshes; in winter, also fields, park ponds, salt bays. For breeding season requires fairly shallow fresh water with much marsh vegetation. At other seasons may be in almost any aquatic habitat, including ponds or reservoirs with bare shorelines, open ground near lakes, on salt marshes or protected coastal bays. Migrants sometimes are seen at sea some distance from land.

Diet: Omnivorous. Eats mostly plant material, including stems, leaves, and seeds of pondweeds, sedges, grasses, and many others, also much algae. Also eats insects, tadpoles, fish, worms, snails, crayfish, prawns, eggs of other birds.

Nest: Site is among tall marsh vegetation rushes, sedges, lined with finer materials, anchored to standing plants. Several similar platforms may be built, only one or two used for nesting.