Eurasian Coot and American Coot

We saw lots of Coots while in London last April: on the Hampton Court grounds, at Regents Park and St. James Park - the three areas where we saw the most birds. The Eurasian Coots are very similar to our American Coots. Coots are often mistaken as ducks, but they have more of a bill like a chicken than a duck, and do not have a duck's webbed feet. They possess lobed toes which are very long and used as a defense weapon.

Eurasian Coot, Hampton Court, London, UK; 4-5-10



Eurasian Coot, St. James Park, London; 4-8-10

As the photos suggest, the Eurasian Coot is a squat marsh bird found in slow moving fresh or coastal waters. They are all black with a white bill and frontal shield. Its eye-rings are red and legs are yellowish-gray. As I stated above, their toes are long and lobed, not webbed like other water fowl. Coots are very aggressive towards other water birds. They are common in Europe and if they appear at all in the Western Hemisphere it would be rare occurances in the islands off of Alaska or on the far Eastern coast of Canada - Newfoundland and Labrador.




American Coot, Saguaro Lake, Arizona; 12/26/08.

The American Coot (Above) is very similar to its Eurasian counterpart. Some of the differences appear in its bill and facial shield. The American Coot's upper facial shield often is red, but sometimes can be white or gray. The tip of its white bill has a dark ring.  When I visit Arizona in the Winter, Coots are anywhere there is water: large lakes, small ponds and even golf course water hazards (Below). The Coots I see in winter have gray legs, but when they are in their breeding plumage, the legs turn yellow. In summer they breed from throughout Canada to Northern Midwest and from upstate New York to the Northeastern states. In winter they will stay southward down the western and southwestren U.S.  In a rare sighting this past April, 2010, I spotted a Coot on our own lake in Rock Cut State Park near Rockford, IL (Bottom), probably on its migration northward.

American Coots on the ocotillo Golf Course, Phoenix, AZ; 12/29/09

American Coots taking flight; Phoenix, AZ; 12/29/09

A lone American Coot resting on Pierce Lake, Rock Cut State Park, Rockford, IL; 4/18/10.

Grey Heron

While exploring Regents Park near Buckingham Palace in London, we saw lots of water fowl in the many ponds, mostly of the duck and goose persuasion. However, to my surprise, I saw what I thought for sure was a Great Blue Heron sitting near a bridge. Having enough photos of a Great Blue, I almost didn't take the photo, but because I was surprised to see one in such a heavily populated area, I took the photo (below).

Grey Heron, Regents Park, London, UK; 4-10-10.

Upon further research, unless I'm mistaken (and I'm certainly no expert), it seems that Great Blue Herons are very rarely if ever found across the great Atlantic Pond.  However, the Grey Heron which looks very much like the Great Blue, but with less of the reddish/brownish hues in the neck, is not found in North America, but is fairly common in Europe and the British Isles. My conclusion? It's a Grey Heron. Yeah!

European and American Robins

American Robin, Bauman Park, Rockford, IL; 5/16/09



Young American Robin, Rockford, IL; 6/15/07

The next few weekends I'll highlight a few birds that Val and I saw in London, England, while visiting there last Spring of 2010, with a group of high school Theatre students from Guilford High School in Rockford.

While most of my photos of Great Britain mostly dealt with Historical Places and Architecture, I did manage to get a few pics of birds - some that we find in North America and some that are unique to England and Europe. I'll start with the European version of the Robin. We of course have the ubiquitous American Robin (Above) that can be found almost anywhere from the center of major cities to the deep woods and mountains, from Alaska (summers only) to the tip of Florida (winters only).  The European Robin is much smaller and has less red on its breast, but is very pretty (below).


European Robin, Regents park, London, UK; 4/10/10.



European Robin, Regents Park, London, UK; 4/10/10



Trumpeter Swan

While exploring the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore on  Lake Superior off of Upper Michigan, we decided to take a side trip to the Seney Wildlife Refuge.  While there, we saw Cranes, Geese, and the rare Trumpeter Swan (Below).  The Trumpeter Swan is North America's largest waterfowl and one of its rarest native birds.


A rare Trumpeter Swan at the Seney Wildlife Refuge in Upper Michigan; 5/27/07.

 In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the Trumpeter Swan was hunted heavily, both as game and a source of feathers. This species is also unusually sensitive to lead poisoning while young. These birds once bred in North America from northwestern Indiana west to Oregon in the U.S., and in Canada from James Bay to the Yukon, and they migrated as far south as Texas and southern California. The Trumpeter was rare or extinct in most of the United States by the early twentieth century. Many thousands survived in the core range in Canada and Alaska, where populations have since rebounded.

Early efforts to reintroduce this bird into other parts of its original range, and to introduce it elsewhere, have had only modest success, as suitable habitats have dwindled and the released birds do not undertake migrations. More recently, the population in all three major population regions have shown sustained growth over the past thirty year period. Data from the US Fish and Wildlife Service show 400% growth in that period, with signs of increasing growth rates over time.

One impediment to the growth of the Trumpeter Swan population around the Great Lakes is the presence of a growing non-migratory Mute Swan (see 10/9/10 blog) population who compete for habitat.

The Toronto Zoo started a conservation project in 1982, using eggs collected in the wild. Live birds have also been taken from the wild. Since then more than 180 have been released in Ontario. Despite lead poisoning in the wild from shotgun pellets, the prospects for restoration are considered good. (Information came from the Trumpeter Swan Society)

Mute Swan

While staying in Kauai, I saw a Mute Swan for the first time in the wild. It made its home on a nearby pond (Below).

A Mute Swan at a pond in Kauai, Hawaii; 7/6/08.

Mute swans can grow as large as 5' long with a wing span of over 6'. They are unique in the swan family with its orange bill.  I also saw one while in London during a Spring Break trip last April (Below).

A Mute swan in a St. James Park pond, London, UK; 4/8/10.

My most surprising sighting of a Mute Swan came in the spring of 2009, when I saw a small flock of three at our own Rock Cut State Park (Below), here in Rockford, Illinois. They make their summer homes in small lakes in the Northern lakes of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Canada, and around the Great Lakes: Superior, Michigan and Ontario.


Three Mute Swans resting at Pierce Lake at Rock Cut State Park, Rockford, IL; 5/10/09.

Chukar

We visited the Haleakala National Park on the Island of Maui and hiked down the celebrated "Sliding Sands Trail." When we started the hike we were in a cloud (as parts of the National Park is as high as 10,000 feet above sea level) and had very little visibility. But as we hiked to a lower altitude we emerged beneath the cloud cover and enough sunlight passed through the cloud to give us a glimpse of the beautiful landscape, which gave us a feeling of being on the moon or some unearthly planet (Below).


A view from the "Sliding Sands Trail", Haleakala National Park on Maui, Hawaii; 7/14/08.

 While on this trail we were hoping to see the rare Hawaiian Goose, the Nene, but instead several times we ran a cross a chicken-like bird called a Chukar (Below). I have never heard of a Chukar before this. The Chukar was introduced to the U.S. (and Hawaii) from the Middle East for sport hunting, but never really established any kind of large flocks. When they are seen, they are usually found on arid rocky slopes, which is a perfect description of the terrain surrounding the "Sliding Sands Trail. "

A Chukar on the sliding Sands Trail of Haleakala National Park, Maui; 7/14/08.

Chukars are chunky and medium sized birds (like chickens) that have a pale grayish brown body with very bold black bars on its flanks. It has a black band across its eyes that extends down behind its cheeks and across its throat, which gives it the impression of being a bandit. It has a red beak and a red eye ring sets its eyes off from the black mask.



Another pair of Chukars in Haleakala Nat. Park, Maui, Hawaii; 7/14/08.



Brown Noddy

While we were taking a boat trip around the beautiful NaPali Coast of the island of Kauai, we passed some cliffs with a colony of Brown Noddies (Below). The Brown Noddy is a tropical seabird in the tern family which is mostly brown except for a white forehead blending into a gray nape, and small white half-eye ring. It has a wedge-shaped tail with a small notch at the tip. It has a long slender black bill and black legs and feet. .

A colony of Brown Noddies on a cliff edge; NaPali Coast, Kauai, Hawaii; 7/9/10.

The Brown Noddy is colonial, usually nesting on elevated situations on cliffs or in short trees or shrubs. It only occasionally nests on the ground. A single egg is laid by the female of a pair each breeding season. I feel fortunate to have spotted these because its only breeding colony in the contiguous United States is in Dry Tortugas at the tip of Florida, about 70 miles west of Key West.