{"id":113092,"date":"2023-04-30T02:55:26","date_gmt":"2023-04-30T08:55:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=113092"},"modified":"2023-04-30T06:25:56","modified_gmt":"2023-04-30T12:25:56","slug":"american-coots-fighting-pond-pugilists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/04\/30\/american-coots-fighting-pond-pugilists\/","title":{"rendered":"American Coots Fighting – Pond Pugilists"},"content":{"rendered":"

While I was at my local pond three days ago, I took my best-to-date images of fighting American Coots. I had a blast and laughed a lot while I took them.<\/p>\n

\"TwoTwo American Coots fighting on an urban pond<\/span><\/p>\n

I’ve taken other photos of fighting American Coots before, but these were particularly humorous, action-packed, and part of a long series of images. The splashing water, aggressive postures, and sharpness of the images made them appealing to me. The light was terrific, the water reflected the blue sky overhead, and the coots were showing off. However, I did have some difficulty in picking my favorites, so I decided to create a gallery featuring the images I liked the most.<\/p>\n

Please click the first image in the gallery below to view them larger and you can scroll through them from there. The fighting American Coot<\/span><\/a> images are in the gallery in the order they were taken.<\/p>\n

\"American<\/a><\/div><\/div>
\"Very<\/a><\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
\"Two<\/a><\/div><\/div>
\"American<\/a><\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
\"Three<\/a><\/div><\/div>
\"Trio<\/a><\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
\"Battling<\/a><\/div><\/div>
\"Four<\/a><\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
\"American<\/a><\/div><\/div>
\"Two<\/a><\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
\"Two<\/a><\/div><\/div>
\"Two<\/a><\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
\"Two<\/a><\/div><\/div>
\"Combative<\/a><\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
\"American<\/a><\/div><\/div>
\"Bystanding<\/a><\/div><\/div>
<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n
<\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div>\n

The first photo in the gallery probably made me laugh the longest because the coot looked like it had taken a few martial arts classes. I also laughed when I saw the last photo in the gallery because a coot that was watching the fight took a wing slap to the face for simply being too close.<\/p>\n

\"AmericanAmerican Coot battle winding down<\/span><\/p>\n

It is always fun to photograph American Coots fighting.<\/strong><\/h2>\n

My father boxed in Golden Gloves in the Army. I wonder what he would think about these fighting coot images had he lived long enough to see me become a bird photographer.<\/p>\n

Later in the morning I took more fighting coot photos but that fight was too close and I clipped a lot of wing tips, heads, and feet in that series.<\/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.<\/p>\n

*All of the photos were taken using my Nikon D500 with a Nikkor 500mm VR lens and a 1.4x teleconverter attached and mounted on my tripod. My ISO was 640, the aperture was set at 7.1, the exposure compensation and shutter speed varied.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While I was at my local pond three days ago, I took my best-to-date images of fighting American Coots. I had a blast and laughed a lot while I took them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":113036,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_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":""},"categories":[137,27,709,26],"tags":[4004,5246,4010,5279,5523,4226,13872,13873,2772,2773,4743,4337,10009,13870,10698,1984,13871,3973,165,8018,30,3996,13875,13874],"class_list":["post-113092","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-american-coots","category-avian","category-salt-lake-county-utah","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-aggressive","tag-american-coot","tag-battle","tag-battling","tag-behavior","tag-combative","tag-come-to-blows","tag-coot","tag-coots","tag-fight","tag-fighting","tag-kicking","tag-knock-down","tag-park","tag-pond","tag-ruckus","tag-salt-lake-county","tag-spring","tag-urban","tag-utah-2","tag-water","tag-winding-down","tag-wing-slapped"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/american-coots-fighting-mia-mcpherson-3527.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-tq4","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":120837,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/02\/11\/urban-american-coot-close-up-photos\/","url_meta":{"origin":113092,"position":0},"title":"Urban American Coot Close Up Photos","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 11, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Because it was a bright, sunny day yesterday morning, I went down to my local ponds. I photographed an American Coot munching on frosty grass near one of them.","rel":"","context":"In "American Coots"","block_context":{"text":"American Coots","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/gruiformes\/american-coots\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Urban American Coot in winter, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/american-coot-winter-pondside-mia-mcpherson-7535.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/american-coot-winter-pondside-mia-mcpherson-7535.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/american-coot-winter-pondside-mia-mcpherson-7535.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/american-coot-winter-pondside-mia-mcpherson-7535.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":50454,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/01\/02\/coots-coots-and-more-coots\/","url_meta":{"origin":113092,"position":1},"title":"Coots, Coots and More Coots","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 2, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"The last birds I photographed in 2017 were American Coots and some of the first birds I took photos of in 2018 were also coots.","rel":"","context":"In "American Coots"","block_context":{"text":"American Coots","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/gruiformes\/american-coots\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Two American Coots involved in a chase, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/american-coot-chase-mia-mcpherson-4807.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/american-coot-chase-mia-mcpherson-4807.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/american-coot-chase-mia-mcpherson-4807.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/american-coot-chase-mia-mcpherson-4807.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":115372,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/08\/24\/baby-american-coot-images\/","url_meta":{"origin":113092,"position":2},"title":"Baby American Coot Images","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 24, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday morning, I spent some time taking photos of baby American Coots not far from where I live. It does seem late in the summer for coot chicks.","rel":"","context":"In "American Coots"","block_context":{"text":"American Coots","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/gruiformes\/american-coots\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Baby American Coot in Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/american-coot-baby-summer-mia-mcpherson-8459.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/american-coot-baby-summer-mia-mcpherson-8459.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/american-coot-baby-summer-mia-mcpherson-8459.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/american-coot-baby-summer-mia-mcpherson-8459.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4875,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/04\/25\/whoops-american-coot-on-thin-ice\/","url_meta":{"origin":113092,"position":3},"title":"Whoops – American Coot On Thin Ice","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 25, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Some images are simply too funny not to share. Even with those huge feet this American Coot (Fulica americana) couldn't stay in top of the ice at a pond near where I live in Salt Lake County, Utah.","rel":"","context":"In "American Coots"","block_context":{"text":"American Coots","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/gruiformes\/american-coots\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"American Coot falling through ice, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/american-coot-ice-mia-mcpherson-8219.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/american-coot-ice-mia-mcpherson-8219.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/american-coot-ice-mia-mcpherson-8219.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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this American Coot photographed 3 days ago stood out from its typically aggressive and territorial behavior during the breeding season.","rel":"","context":"In "American Coots"","block_context":{"text":"American Coots","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/gruiformes\/american-coots\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Tranquil American Coot on a March morning, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/american-coot-tranquil-pond-mia-mcpherson-5637.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/american-coot-tranquil-pond-mia-mcpherson-5637.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/american-coot-tranquil-pond-mia-mcpherson-5637.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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