{"id":63651,"date":"2020-02-01T05:51:25","date_gmt":"2020-02-01T12:51:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=63651"},"modified":"2025-10-09T17:45:18","modified_gmt":"2025-10-09T22:45:18","slug":"an-american-coot-on-patrol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/02\/01\/an-american-coot-on-patrol\/","title":{"rendered":"An American Coot On Patrol"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"PatrollingPatrolling American Coot \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1250, ISO 500, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Birds communicate by using vocal and nonvocal sounds which includes singing, calls, croaks, grunts, warbles, trills, drums, pops, whinnies, gulps, rattles, honks, thumps, whistles, and howls.<\/p>\n

Birds also communicate by using behaviors and visual displays.<\/p>\n

During the breeding season some male birds will dance and strut to attract a potential mate’s attention while others will bring food or nesting materials as part of their courtship behaviors.<\/p>\n

In the day to day life of birds nonvocal behaviors can let other birds know if they have moved into another bird’s territory or have gotten too close to their mate or source of food.<\/p>\n

American Coots are a bird species that I observe often and that show many different kinds of communicative postures and behaviors.<\/p>\n

Because the coots exhibit those behaviors and postures I can often anticipate what they might do next.<\/p>\n

When I notice an American Coot exhibiting patrolling behavior I will often aim my lens at them because there could possibly be a chase or fight within seconds.<\/p>\n

I photographed this American Coot last week at a local pond and when I saw that it was “on patrol” I focused on it because its posture indicated it might have a fight with another nearby coot.<\/p>\n

Sometimes those fights do happen but in this instance the other coot saw the posture of this bird and and hurriedly moved away.<\/p>\n

By watching and paying attention to the nonvocal communications and behaviors of American Coots<\/span><\/a> I have taken quite a few action packed photos of this species that I might have missed had I not known what they were “saying.”<\/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

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I notice an American Coot exhibiting patrolling behavior I will often aim my lens at them because there could possibly be a chase or fight within seconds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":159623,"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_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[137,27,709,26],"tags":[4004,4010,647,2772,2773,4121,8539,8538,6279,6280,6281,6883,1283,8018,3996,373],"class_list":["post-63651","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-behaviors","tag-coot","tag-coots","tag-fulica-americana","tag-nonvocal-communication","tag-on-patrol","tag-patrol","tag-patrolling","tag-patrolling-behavior","tag-posture","tag-swimming","tag-urban","tag-water","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/american-coot-patrolling-pond-mia-mcpherson-6040.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-gyD","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":49791,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/12\/12\/feisty-pugnacious-and-aggressive-why-i-enjoy-photographing-american-coots\/","url_meta":{"origin":63651,"position":0},"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, 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McPherson","date":"August 7, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday morning, I went for a walk around my local pond. One of the birds I photographed was this teen-aged American Coot with swirly reflections around 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":"Teen-aged American Coot in August, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/american-coot-teenager-and-fun-sky-reflections-mia-mcpherson-6757.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-teenager-and-fun-sky-reflections-mia-mcpherson-6757.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/american-coot-teenager-and-fun-sky-reflections-mia-mcpherson-6757.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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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, 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