Coot
Coot
Bird
The coot is a rounded, slate-black waterbird with a striking white face shield. A strong swimmer with lobed, paddle-like toes, it dives for water plants and squabbles noisily with its neighbours.
💡 Fun Facts
- The coot is a sooty-black waterbird with a brilliant white beak and forehead — which gives us the old saying "as bald as a coot".
- Its toes have broad, lobed flaps of skin that work like paddles, making it a strong swimmer and diver.
- Coots are famously quarrelsome, splashing and charging at rivals across the water to defend their patch.
📅 Through the Year
- Breeding:March to August
Name Story
Fulica atra
means “the black coot”
What does its name mean?
- fulica — cootLatin
- atra — black (a dull, sooty black)Latin
Fulica was the Romans' word for a coot, and atra means 'black' — not shiny black, but a soft, sooty black. Put them together and you have exactly what you see paddling on the pond: a 'black coot'.