{"id":29600,"date":"2015-10-11T06:12:41","date_gmt":"2015-10-11T12:12:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=29600"},"modified":"2025-10-08T05:49:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T10:49:14","slug":"they-might-be-common-but-i-love-coots-and-comparing-them-to-western-grebes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/10\/11\/they-might-be-common-but-i-love-coots-and-comparing-them-to-western-grebes\/","title":{"rendered":"They Might Be Common But I Love Coots"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AmericanAmerican Coot flapping its wings – Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/2500, ISO 500, -1.0 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

It was great having my camera back in my hands yesterday and though it wasn’t very birdy at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge<\/span><\/a> I did find some American Coots to photograph. One of the coots had been preening when I first drove up and I hoped that after it was done preening it would shake off before heading out to eat.<\/p>\n

\"AmericanAmerican Coot settling back onto the water – Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/2500, ISO 500, -1.0 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I wasn’t disappointed because it helps to know your subjects behavior and coots usually shake and flap right after they are finished preening. I took a nice series of the coot flapping its wings and then settling down on the water again.<\/p>\n

\"WesternWestern Grebe flapping its wings on the Bear River – Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

After I came home and processed my coot images I realized I had Western Grebe images showing the same behavior after a preening session that I wanted to share too.<\/p>\n

The reason? Even though these grebe images show the same behavior as the coot images there are people, and photographers,\u00a0 that will like and find the the grebe images more appealing because coots are “so common” whereas the Western Grebes aren’t as much. Some photographers won’t stop to photograph the coots but they would the grebes.<\/p>\n

\"WesternWestern Grebe settling on the water after a wing flapping session – Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Western Grebes are fairly common here in northern Utah during the breeding season but in other parts of the U.S. they aren’t common at all while American Coots can be found in every one of the lower 48 states.<\/p>\n

Both American Coots and Western Grebes have fascinating red eyes,\u00a0interesting bills and black & white plumage.\u00a0 I think it is interesting how one species is “liked” more than the other.<\/p>\n

I happen to like common birds very much and I think that common birds can be uncommonly beautiful given a chance. I’ll stop for them.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my American Coot photos plus facts and information about this species. Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Western Grebe photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Both American Coots and Western Grebes have fascinating red eyes, interesting bills and black & white plumage. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":159424,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[137,124,1148,26,161],"tags":[699,4010,2772,2773,4121,877,707,4588,4094,4502,4014,4095,4135],"class_list":["post-29600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-american-coots","category-bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge","category-box-elder-county-utah","category-utah","category-western-grebes","tag-aechmophorus-occidentalis","tag-american-coot","tag-coot","tag-coots","tag-fulica-americana","tag-grebe","tag-grebes-2","tag-gruiformes","tag-marsh","tag-shaking","tag-western-grebe","tag-wetlands","tag-wing-lift"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/american-coot-flapping-mia-mcpherson-3663.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-7Hq","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":117565,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/10\/28\/three-american-coots-side-by-side\/","url_meta":{"origin":29600,"position":0},"title":"Three American Coots Side By Side","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 28, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"What's better than having one coot in my viewfinder? 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I happen to like seeing their big, funky-looking feet.","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 adult about to enter the water, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/american-coot-last-day-of-winter-mia-mcpherson-1039.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/american-coot-last-day-of-winter-mia-mcpherson-1039.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/american-coot-last-day-of-winter-mia-mcpherson-1039.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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