{"id":112528,"date":"2023-04-13T03:04:32","date_gmt":"2023-04-13T09:04:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=112528"},"modified":"2023-08-07T03:23:19","modified_gmt":"2023-08-07T09:23:19","slug":"leucistic-american-coot-photos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/04\/13\/leucistic-american-coot-photos\/","title":{"rendered":"Leucistic American Coot Photos"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over the past four months I wanted closer, better photos of the leucistic American Coot that I found on January 2nd. My patience and persistence paid off.<\/p>\n

When I found this coot it was a crappy, low light day and my photos reflected those conditions. I pointed out the coot and shared it with a few neighbors that are interested in birds because it is so unusual looking.<\/p>\n

\"BackBack view of leucistic American Coot in spring \u2013 Nikon D500, f11, 1\/320, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Whenever I would head down to the pond to photograph birds or to walk around it for exercise the coot pretty much stayed way out in the middle of the pond. I’d admire it from a distance and hoped that I could get better images of it one day. That day came last Sunday.<\/p>\n

\"MorningMorning view of leucistic American Coot \u2013 Nikon D500, f8, 1\/800, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The coot with the plumage aberration came closer to me than it ever had before. I jumped on the opportunity literally in front of me.<\/p>\n

\"LeucisticLeucistic American Coot swimming past \u2013 Nikon D500, f8, 1\/800, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

This leucistic Coot seems like it has more white on it now than it did when I first found it. I don’t believe that is just because I have seen it in better light than I had on January 2nd.<\/p>\n

\"LeucisticLeucistic American Coot on calm water \u2013 Nikon D500, f8, 1\/800, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Standing at the edge of the pond, my camera mounted to my tripod allowed me to take these photos of the leucistic coot as it swam past me on calm water. The calm water allowed neat reflections of the coot to appear.<\/p>\n

\"StaringStaring leucistic American Coot \u2013 Nikon D500, f8, 1\/800, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I could have shared more photos of this leucistic American Coot in between January 2nd and now. The thing that stopped me is that I wasn’t happy with the distance between me and the coot. I wanted close up, detailed photos of this strangely colored bird.<\/p>\n

\"ProfileProfile view of an leucistic American Coot \u2013 Nikon D500, f8, 1\/500, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

And I was willing to wait, hoping to get the chance to show off this coot’s unique appearance. I was thrilled when it swam in as close as it did last Sunday.<\/p>\n

\"PreeningPreening leucistic American Coot \u2013 Nikon D500, f8, 1\/500, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Then to top it all off the weirdly colored American Coot paused and preened in front of me for a brief period of time. I took hundreds of photos of this leucistic American Coot. Why? Because I may never see another one, it is as simple as that.<\/p>\n

But wait!<\/strong><\/h2>\n

I’m not through with the leucistic birds I saw and photographed that day. Nope. I found another oddly colored bird.<\/p>\n

\"ForagingForaging leucistic Great-tailed Grackle male \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/640, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

A leucistic Great-tailed Grackle flew past then walked over close to where I was standing. I moved my tripod to get better light on the grackle with white tail, neck, and marginal covert feathers! I have more images of this leucistic grackle but will hold onto those for a future post on another day.<\/p>\n

Two leucistic<\/span><\/a> birds in one day. Isn’t life grand?<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to view more of my American Coot photos plus facts and information about this species. Click here<\/span><\/a> to see posts on other leucistic birds that I have found and photographed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Over the past four months I wanted closer, better photos of the leucistic American Coot that I found on January 2nd. My patience and persistence paid off.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":112512,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[137,27,426,13594,709,26],"tags":[4004,4010,5180,2772,2773,9808,7482,4136,4121,4779,4780,3747,2429,3456,3455,4062,4378,13483,4019,6374,4778,3973,165,5875,1283,6285,10660,8018,30,3996],"class_list":["post-112528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-american-coots","category-avian","category-great-tailed-grackles","category-leucistic","category-salt-lake-county-utah","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-american-coot","tag-back-view","tag-coot","tag-coots","tag-dirt","tag-face","tag-foraging","tag-fulica-americana","tag-grackle","tag-grackles","tag-grass","tag-great-tailed-grackle","tag-leucism","tag-leucistic","tag-male","tag-morning","tag-plumage-aberration","tag-preening-2","tag-profile-view","tag-quiscalus-mexicanus","tag-salt-lake-county","tag-spring","tag-staring","tag-swimming","tag-tail","tag-tree-trunk","tag-urban","tag-utah-2","tag-water"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/american-coot-leucistic-mia-mcpherson-2950.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-tgY","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":120144,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/01\/26\/im-still-looking-for-this-leucistic-american-coot\/","url_meta":{"origin":112528,"position":0},"title":"I’m Still Looking For This Leucistic American Coot","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 26, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"I remember feeling very thrilled when I found this leucistic American Coot on January 2, 2023. I'd been hoping to find a leucistic coot for quite a long time.","rel":"","context":"In "American Coots"","block_context":{"text":"American Coots","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/gruiformes\/american-coots\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Unusual leucistic American Coot, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/american-coot-leucistic-mia-mcpherson-2911.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/american-coot-leucistic-mia-mcpherson-2911.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/american-coot-leucistic-mia-mcpherson-2911.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/american-coot-leucistic-mia-mcpherson-2911.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":109268,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/01\/03\/leucistic-american-coot-in-salt-lake-county\/","url_meta":{"origin":112528,"position":1},"title":"Leucistic American Coot In Salt Lake County","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 3, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"After shoveling more snow I wanted to go to my local pond to see what was there. 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