{"id":4247,"date":"2012-01-29T13:48:52","date_gmt":"2012-01-29T20:48:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=4247"},"modified":"2025-10-04T15:39:18","modified_gmt":"2025-10-04T20:39:18","slug":"american-coots-birds-to-rail-about","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/01\/29\/american-coots-birds-to-rail-about\/","title":{"rendered":"American Coots – Birds To Rail About"},"content":{"rendered":"

It is my belief that even birds that people consider too common, plain, drab, or boring can be photographed in ways that create visually compelling images.<\/p>\n

For instance, when I am photographing American Coots I look for colors and patterns that will compliment or be in contrast to their dark plumage. Or appealing settings, great action, or an interesting pose.<\/p>\n

American Coots are the most widely distributed members of the Rail family in North America and are very abundant in\u00a0habitats with open water.<\/p>\n

Some bird photographers pass up on photographing American Coots because they aren’t colorful and are common, but if you have been following my blog for any length of time you know that if it has feathers and it is a bird, I’ll photograph it.<\/p>\n

These members of the Rail family\u00a0have large, lobed greenish feet, red eyes, very dark bodies with ivory colored bills topped by a reddish shield.<\/p>\n

They are often in the presence of ducks and are at times they are mistakenly labeled a “duck” by people not familiar with birds.<\/p>\n

Coots can make a lot of noise and while they are gregarious they will often chase each other around in displays of aggression which\u00a0is great fun to watch and photograph.<\/p>\n

\"AmericanAmerican Coot on cold water –\u00a0 Nikon D200, tripod mounted, f7.1, 1\/800, ISO 320, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

American Coots are difficult to expose correctly because of their very dark bodies and their very white bills.<\/p>\n

It can be a challenge to get details in the black without blowing out the whites in the bill.<\/p>\n

Paying attention to the angle of light and deciding whether to use negative or positive exposure compensation is critical when considering what settings to use when photographing these birds.<\/p>\n

I photographed the American Coot in the image above on a very chilly winter day at a pond near where I live.<\/p>\n

The shades of white in the water were caused by snow on the bank of the pond and the golden tones were from the colors of the dried cattails along the shore.<\/p>\n

I decided to compose this image with the American Coot small in the frame because I felt the water was dramatic and was as visually stimulating as the bird itself.<\/p>\n

\"American American Coot chasing another coot –\u00a0 Nikon D200, tripod mounted, f7.1, 1\/1000, ISO 250, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 300mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Earlier I mentioned that I look for great action when photographing American Coots, I feel that the action can convey not only a sense of movement but lends a bit of excitement too.<\/p>\n

When I photographed the bird in this image I had been concentrating on bird that were close to where I was sitting with my tripod in front of me.<\/p>\n

When I heard the coots making sounds that indicate a squabble might happen soon so I zoomed back and got prepared for some action.<\/p>\n

I saw one of the birds sneaking up on another and when the lead bird took off running across the top of the water I started tracking the bird that was doing the chasing and created a series of images of this coot “walking on water.”<\/p>\n

Make that “running”.\u00a0 I didn’t even mind the out of focus Pied-billed Grebe in the frame because it was so out of focus and not intersecting with the main subject plus I also liked the feeling of depth the Pied-billed Grebe added to the image.<\/p>\n

\"AmericanAmerican Coot with tilted head –\u00a0 Nikon D200, tripod mounted, f9, 1\/320, ISO 320, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC 315 mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I also mentioned that I look for interesting poses when photographing coots and sometimes that includes the head angle of the subject.<\/p>\n

I’, almost certain that some pro photographers would “wish” that the bird’s head in the frame above was tilted a few degrees downward and to the left side of the frame to convey better direct eye contact between the subject and viewer.<\/p>\n

I sort of think that is splitting feathers<\/em> and\u00a0I simply do not feel that I “must” always have the subject looking directly at me.<\/p>\n

We can clearly see the eye here and because the bird is looking up I can imagine it was looking at something in the sky.<\/p>\n

For me that adds interest and doesn’t subtract from the overall appeal of the image.<\/p>\n

\"AmericanAmerican Coot in silky waters –\u00a0 Nikon D200, tripod mounted, f7.1, 1\/500, ISO 250, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Some of the features I like most about the image above is the silkiness of the water, the profile view of the head of the bird, and how the ripples in the water distorted the reflections of the snow and vegetation.<\/p>\n

Which creates a wonderful contrast from the plain colored bird not only in the colors but in textures and swirly patterns.<\/p>\n

\"AmericanAmerican Coot standing on\u00a0bronze colored ice and water –\u00a0<\/strong> Nikon D200, tripod mounted, f7.1, 1\/350, ISO 250, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

This American Coot<\/span><\/a> was standing on thin ice near the shoreline and just the mere weight of the bird pushed the ice slightly under the water, just enough that the stand of cattails was reflected on all of the water’s surface visible in this frame.<\/p>\n

Because the warm bronzy tones of the water are in contrast with the dark plumage of the bird the Coot stands out very well from the setting.<\/p>\n

Even “Plain Jane” birds can sparkle in the right light, setting or pose. Don’t you agree?<\/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","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

American Coots are the most widely distributed members of the Rail family in North America and are very abundant in habitats with open water.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":159294,"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":[137,27,709,26],"tags":[4004,4010,13595,929,2772,2773,4121,4588,6306,4064,10698,1984,4148,13022,4043,11343,8018,3996,373],"class_list":["post-4247","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-american-coot","tag-bronze","tag-chasing","tag-coot","tag-coots","tag-fulica-americana","tag-gruiformes","tag-head","tag-ice","tag-park","tag-pond","tag-running","tag-silky","tag-small-in-frame","tag-tilted","tag-urban","tag-water","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/american-coot-golden-ice-mia-mcpherson-1112.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-16v","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":17041,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/11\/15\/an-american-coot-munching-on-food\/","url_meta":{"origin":4247,"position":0},"title":"An American Coot Munching On Food","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 15, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"American Coots are common birds and some folks might find them fairly plain but I like them and enjoy photographing them too.","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 munching on food, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/american-coot-eating-mia-mcpherson-6359.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/american-coot-eating-mia-mcpherson-6359.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/american-coot-eating-mia-mcpherson-6359.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/american-coot-eating-mia-mcpherson-6359.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":42736,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/10\/20\/american-coots-in-northern-utah\/","url_meta":{"origin":4247,"position":1},"title":"American Coots in Northern Utah","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 20, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"American Coots have interesting behaviors that I like to try to capture, for instance the way they run across the surface of the water during territorial chases.","rel":"","context":"In "American Coots"","block_context":{"text":"American Coots","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/gruiformes\/american-coots\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Coot standing on ice, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/american-coot-winter-mia-mcpherson-1236.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-winter-mia-mcpherson-1236.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/american-coot-winter-mia-mcpherson-1236.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/american-coot-winter-mia-mcpherson-1236.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":4247,"position":2},"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":49791,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/12\/12\/feisty-pugnacious-and-aggressive-why-i-enjoy-photographing-american-coots\/","url_meta":{"origin":4247,"position":3},"title":"Feisty, Pugnacious And Aggressive – Why I Enjoy Photographing American Coots","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 12, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"While observing American Coots I can see that they are feisty, pugnacious and aggressive in their behaviors and they don't seem to take any guff from each other.","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 exhibiting patrolling behavior, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/American-coot-on-patrol-mia-mcpherson-2226.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/American-coot-on-patrol-mia-mcpherson-2226.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/American-coot-on-patrol-mia-mcpherson-2226.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/American-coot-on-patrol-mia-mcpherson-2226.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":141796,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/03\/20\/american-coots-on-lower-scarborough-slough\/","url_meta":{"origin":4247,"position":4},"title":"American Coots On Lower Scarborough Slough","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 20, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Lately, I\u2019ve been seeing hundreds of American Coots at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, and a few days ago, I photographed some on Lower Scarborough Slough.","rel":"","context":"In "American Coots"","block_context":{"text":"American Coots","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/gruiformes\/american-coots\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"An American Coot floats on silky deep-to-light blue water, Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/american-coot-sequoyah-nwr-mia-mcpherson-8580.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/american-coot-sequoyah-nwr-mia-mcpherson-8580.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/american-coot-sequoyah-nwr-mia-mcpherson-8580.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/american-coot-sequoyah-nwr-mia-mcpherson-8580.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":18759,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/01\/25\/american-coots-big-foot-birds\/","url_meta":{"origin":4247,"position":5},"title":"American Coots – Big Foot Birds","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 25, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Early in January I was able to photograph a few American Coots as they walked on ice at Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management area and marveled again at how big their feet are.","rel":"","context":"In "American Coots"","block_context":{"text":"American Coots","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/gruiformes\/american-coots\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Utah Bigfoot Bird, an image of an American Coot showing its very large feet. Farmington Bay WMA, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/american-coot-big-feet-mia-mcpherson-2167.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-big-feet-mia-mcpherson-2167.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/american-coot-big-feet-mia-mcpherson-2167.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/american-coot-big-feet-mia-mcpherson-2167.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4247"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4247\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/159294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}