{"id":62047,"date":"2019-12-14T06:35:35","date_gmt":"2019-12-14T13:35:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=62047"},"modified":"2025-10-09T17:28:33","modified_gmt":"2025-10-09T22:28:33","slug":"winter-american-coot-close-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/12\/14\/winter-american-coot-close-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Winter American Coot Close Up"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AmericanAmerican Coot close up in low light – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/200, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

About two weeks ago I shared photos of an American Coot struggling to stay upright on ice<\/span><\/a> and I think those photos were fun to view because anyone who has walked on ice can relate to slipping and sliding on it.<\/p>\n

American Coots can be a challenge to photograph because of the high contrast between their dark colored plumage and their ivory white bills and I happen to like having my skills as a bird photographer challenged.<\/p>\n

I enjoy photographing coots because they can look calm one moment, switch to aggressive in the blink of an eye and then look comical the next.<\/p>\n

In other words, they keep me on my toes.<\/p>\n

During the winter I am fortunate to have scores of American Coots gather on a pond close to home where I can photograph them to my heart’s content and I do just that quite often.<\/p>\n

I can photograph them fighting, feeding, resting, and preening. I’m able to photograph them in the water and on land where I can see their large, greenish colored lobed feet.<\/p>\n

When the American Coots<\/span><\/a> come close to me I am also able to take portraits of them that show their red eyes and their ivory colored bills with their reddish-brown frontal shields.<\/p>\n

Almost two years ago I was at my local pond in poor light when this American Coot stepped out of the water close enough for me to take a portrait of it and I was glad to have it in my viewfinder.<\/p>\n

The light I had wasn’t the best but the photo turned out well.<\/p>\n

It has been pouring rain here this morning but if the sun breaks through the clouds, even if it is only for a few minutes, I’m going to head to the pond and hopefully find a few coots there to photograph.<\/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":"

When the American Coots come close to me I am also able to take portraits of them that show their red eyes and their ivory colored bills with their reddish-brown frontal shields.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":159617,"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":[4004,4010,5552,4142,2772,2773,4787,8126,4121,8125,5735,156,1984,4046,6650,373],"class_list":["post-62047","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-bill","tag-close-up","tag-coot","tag-coots","tag-eyes","tag-frontal-shield","tag-fulica-americana","tag-ivory","tag-knob","tag-low-light-2","tag-pond","tag-portrait","tag-red","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/american-coot-close-up-low-light-mia-mcpherson-3138.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-g8L","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":44150,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/12\/29\/winter-american-coot-portrait\/","url_meta":{"origin":62047,"position":0},"title":"Winter American Coot Portrait","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 29, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"When the birds settled back down on the pond this American Coot walked up onto the shore with the open water behind it and I couldn't resist taking portraits of it.","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 portrait, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/american-coot-portrait-mia-mcpherson-9258.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-portrait-mia-mcpherson-9258.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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