Editing Coot

{{Short description|Genus of birds}}
{{Other uses}}
{{more citations needed|date=July 2010}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| fossil_range      = [[Early Pliocene]] to present
| image             = Fulica atra southampton.JPG
| image_caption     = [[Eurasian coot]] (''Fulica atra'')
| taxon             = Fulica
| authority         = [[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], [[10th edition of Systema Naturae|1758]]
| type_species = ''Fulica atra'' ([[Eurasian coot]])
| type_species_authority = Linnaeus, 1758
| subdivision_ranks = [[Species]]
| subdivision       = 
* ''[[Hawaiian coot|Fulica alai]]''
* ''[[American coot|Fulica americana]]''
* ''[[Andean coot|Fulica ardesiaca]]''
* ''[[Red-gartered coot|Fulica armillata]]''
* ''[[Eurasian coot|Fulica atra]]''
* ''[[Horned coot|Fulica cornuta]]''
* ''[[Red-knobbed coot|Fulica cristata]]''
* ''[[Giant coot|Fulica gigantea]]''
* ''[[White-winged coot|Fulica leucoptera]]''
* ''[[Red-fronted coot|Fulica rufifrons]]''
''For extinct and prehistoric species, see article text''
}}

'''Coots''' are medium-sized water birds that are members of the rail [[family (biology)|family]], [[Rallidae]]. They constitute the genus '''''Fulica''''', the name being the [[Latin]] term for "coot". Coots have predominantly black [[Feather|plumage]], and—unlike many rails—they are usually easy to see, often swimming in open water.

==Taxonomy and systematics==
The [[genus]] ''Fulica'' was introduced in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist [[Carl Linnaeus]] in the [[10th edition of Systema Naturae|tenth edition]] of his ''[[Systema Naturae]]''.<ref>{{cite book | last=Linnaeus | first=Carl | author-link=Carl Linnaeus | year=1758 | title= Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis | volume=1 | edition=10th | page=152 | publisher=Laurentii Salvii | location=Holmiae (Stockholm) | language=Latin | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/727059 }}</ref> The genus name is the [[Latin]] word for a [[Eurasian coot]].<ref>{{cite book | last=Jobling | first=James A. | year=2010| title=The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | publisher=Christopher Helm | location=London | isbn=978-1-4081-2501-4 | page=165 }}</ref> The name was used by the Swiss naturalist [[Conrad Gessner]] in 1555.<ref>{{cite book| last=Gesner | first=Conrad | author-link=Conrad Gessner | title=Historiae animalium liber III qui est de auium natura. Adiecti sunt ab initio indices alphabetici decem super nominibus auium in totidem linguis diuersis: & ante illos enumeratio auium eo ordiné quo in hoc volumine continentur | year=1555 | publisher= Froschauer | location=Zurich | language=Latin | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/52661257 | page=375}}</ref> The [[type species]] is the Eurasian coot.<ref>{{ cite book | editor-last=Peters | editor-first=James Lee | editor-link=James L. Peters | year=1934 | title=Check-List of Birds of the World | volume=2 | publisher=Harvard University Press | place=Cambridge, Massachusetts  | page=211 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14483024 }}</ref>

A group of coots is referred to as a ''covert''<ref>{{cite web|title=What do you call a group of ...?|url=http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/page/collectivenouns_us|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110501131302/http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/page/collectivenouns_us|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 1, 2011|work=Oxford Dictionaries|publisher=Oxford University Press|access-date=19 April 2011}}</ref> or ''cover''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://baltimorebirdclub.org/gnlist.html| title=Baltimore Bird Club. Group Name for Birds: A Partial List|access-date=2007-06-03}}</ref>

===Species===
The genus contains 10 extant species and one which  is now extinct.<ref name=ioc>{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela Rasmussen | date=July 2021 | title=Flufftails, finfoots, rails, trumpeters, cranes, limpkin | work=IOC World Bird List Version 11.2 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/flufftails/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | accessdate=19 August 2021 }}</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Image !! Scientific name !! Common name !! Distribution
|-
|[[File:Hawaiian Coot RWD1.jpg|120px]] || ''Fulica alai'' <small>[[Titian Peale|Peale]], 1848</small>|| [[Hawaiian coot]] or ''{{okina}}Alae ke{{okina}}oke{{okina}}o'' || Hawaii
|-
|[[File:American coot in Prospect Park (06152).jpg|120px]] || ''Fulica americana'' <small>[[Johann Friedrich Gmelin|Gmelin]], 1789</small>|| [[American coot]] ||southern Quebec to the Pacific coast of North America and as far south as northern South America
|-
|[[File:Andean Coot RWD3.jpg|120px]] || ''Fulica ardesiaca'' <small>[[Johann Jakob von Tschudi|Tschudi]], 1843</small>|| [[Andean coot]] ||Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru
|-
|[[File:Red-gartered Coot RWD8.jpg|120px]] || ''Fulica armillata'' <small>[[Louis Pierre Vieillot|Vieillot]], 1817</small>|| [[red-gartered coot]] ||Argentina, southern Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay
|-
|[[File:Common Coot Eurasian coot Fulica atra by Dr. Raju Kasambe DSCN3784 (1).jpg|120px]] || ''Fulica atra'' <small>[[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], [[10th edition of Systema Naturae|1758]]</small>|| [[Eurasian coot]] or common coot ||Europe, Asia, Australia, and Africa
|-
|[[File:Fulica cornuta 117475270.jpg|120px]] || ''Fulica cornuta'' <small>[[Charles Lucien Bonaparte|Bonaparte]], 1853</small>|| [[horned coot]] ||Argentina, Bolivia, Chile
|-
|[[File:Fulica cristata -Cape Town, South Africa -adult-8.jpg|120px]] || '' Fulica cristata'' <small>[[Johann Friedrich Gmelin|Gmelin]], 1789</small>|| [[red-knobbed coot]] ||Africa, Iberian Peninsula
|-
|[[File:Riesenblaesshuhn fulica gigantea Chile crop.jpg|120px]] || ''Fulica gigantea'' <small>[[Joseph Fortuné Théodore Eydoux|Eydoux]] & Souleyet, 1841</small>|| [[giant coot]] ||Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Peru
|-
|[[File:Fulica leucoptera GALLARETA CHICA.jpg|120px]] || ''Fulica leucoptera'' <small>[[Louis Pierre Vieillot|Vieillot]], 1817</small>|| [[white-winged coot]] ||Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Falkland Islands, Paraguay, Uruguay
|-
|[[File:Fulica rufifrons - Red-fronted coot; Punta del Este, Uruguay.jpg|120px]] || ''Fulica rufifrons'' <small>Philppi & Landbeck, 1861</small>|| [[red-fronted coot]] ||Argentina, southern Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, southern Peru, Uruguay
|-
|}

===Extinct species===

==== Recently extinct species ====
* {{dagger}}''Fulica newtonii'' <small>[[Alphonse Milne-Edwards|Milne-Edwards]], 1867</small> – [[Mascarene coot]] ([[extinction|extinct]], c. 1700)

==== Late Quaternary species ====

* {{dagger}}''Fulica chathamensis'' <small>[[Henry Ogg Forbes|Forbes]], 1892</small> – [[Chatham Island coot]] ([[early Holocene]] of the [[Chatham Islands]])<!-- Auk79:267 -->
* {{dagger}}''Fulica montanei'' <small>Alarcón-Muñoz, Labarca & Soto-Acuña, 2020</small> (late Pleistocene to early Holocene of [[Chile]])<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Alarcón-Muñoz|first1=Jhonatan|last2=Labarca|first2=Rafael|last3=Soto-Acuña|first3=Sergio|date=2020-12-01|title=The late Pleistocene–early Holocene rails (Gruiformes: Rallidae) of Laguna de Tagua Tagua Formation, central Chile, with the description of a new extinct giant coot |url=http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0895981120303825 |journal=Journal of South American Earth Sciences |language=en |volume=104 |page=102839 |doi=10.1016/j.jsames.2020.102839|bibcode=2020JSAES.10402839A|s2cid=225031984 |url-access=subscription}}</ref>
* {{dagger}}''Fulica prisca'' <small>[[Augustus Hamilton|Hamilton]], 1893</small> – [[New Zealand coot]] (early Holocene of [[New Zealand]]) <!-- Auk79:267 -->
*{{dagger}}''Fulica shufeldti'' – ([[late Pleistocene]] of [[Florida]]) possibly a [[Chronospecies|paleosubspecies]] of ''Fulica americana''; formerly ''F. minor''<!-- Auk80:335; Auk90:438; Condor49:10; Condor69:24 -->

==== Fossil species ====

* {{dagger}}''Fulica infelix'' <small>[[Pierce Brodkorb|Brodkorb]], 1961</small> – (early [[Pliocene]] of [[Juntura, Oregon|Juntura]], [[Malheur County, Oregon|Malheur County]], Oregon, USA)

==Description==
Coots have prominent [[frontal shield]]s or decoration on their foreheads, with red to dark red eyes and coloured bills. Many have white on the under tail. The featherless shield gave rise to the expression "as bald as a coot",<ref>{{Cite web |title=Coot {{!}} The Wildlife Trusts |url=https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/wildlife-explorer/birds/wading-birds/coot |access-date=2024-06-01 |website=www.wildlifetrusts.org |language=en}}</ref> which the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'' cites in use as early as 1430. Coots have long toes with broad lobes of skin that allow them to kick and propel themselves through the water. The lobes of skin fold back each time the coot lifts its foot, allowing them to walk on dry land while also providing support in mucky terrain.<ref>{{Cite web |title=American Coot Overview, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology |url=https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Coot/overview |access-date=2025-03-13 |website=www.allaboutbirds.org |language=en}}</ref> They tend to have short, rounded wings and are weak fliers, though northern species nevertheless can cover long distances.  They typically congregate in large rafts in open water. Along these rafts coots may lay eggs in their own nest or in some other bird’s. Depending on the species of coot the eggs can vary in color: buff, pinkish buff or buff-gray speckled with dark brown, purplish brown, or black.<ref>{{Cite web |title=American Coot Life History, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology |url=https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Coot/lifehistory |access-date=2025-03-09 |website=www.allaboutbirds.org |language=en}}</ref>

==Distribution and habitat==
The greatest species variety occurs in South America, and the genus likely originated there. They are common in Europe and North America.<ref>Olson, Storrs L. (1974). "The Pleistocene Rails of North America." Museum of Natural History.</ref> Coot species that [[bird migration|migrate]] do so at night. The [[American coot]] has been observed rarely in Britain and Ireland, while the [[Eurasian coot]] is found across Asia, Australia and parts of Africa. In southern Louisiana, the coot is referred to by the French name "poule d'eau", which translates into English as "water hen".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://losbird.org/labirds/amco.htm|title=American Coot}}</ref>

==Behaviour and ecology==
Coots are omnivorous, eating mainly plant material, but also small animals, fish and eggs.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ornithology |first=British Trust for |date=2015-04-07 |title=Coot |url=https://www.bto.org/understanding-birds/birdfacts/coot |access-date=2024-06-01 |website=BTO - British Trust for Ornithology |language=en}}</ref> They are aggressively territorial during the breeding season, but are otherwise often found in sizeable flocks on the shallow vegetated lakes they prefer.

Chick mortality occurs mainly due to starvation rather than predation as coots have difficulty feeding a large family of hatchlings on the tiny shrimp and insects that they collect. Many chicks die in the first 10 days after hatching, when they are most dependent on adults for food.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.natureoutside.com/this-coot-has-a-secret/|title=This Coot has a Secret! - NatureOutside|date=20 June 2015}}</ref> Coots can be very brutal to their own young under pressure such as the lack of food, and after about three days they start attacking their own chicks when they beg for food. After a short while, these attacks concentrate on the weaker chicks, who eventually give up [[Begging behavior in animals|begging]] and die. The coot may eventually raise only two or three out of nine hatchlings.<ref>''[[The Life of Birds]]'', [[David Attenborough]]. The Problems of Parenthood. 10:20.</ref> In this attacking behaviour, the parents are said to "tousle" their young. This can result in the death of the chick.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=uRS2WusqW8kC&dq=coots+attack+chicks&pg=PA203 Clutton-Brock, TH., ''The Evolution of Parental Care'', Princeton University Press, 1991  p. 203.]</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{wiktionary|coot}}{{Commons category multi|Fulica|Rallidae}}
* [http://ibc.lynxeds.com/family/rails-coots-rallidae Coot videos] on the Internet Bird Collection
* {{Cite NSRW|wstitle=Coot}}

{{Gruiformes|R.|state=collapsed}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q637533}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Fulica (genus)| ]]
[[Category:Rallidae]]
[[Category:Bird genera]]
[[Category:Extant Pliocene first appearances]]
[[Category:Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus]]