{"id":77976,"date":"2021-01-18T06:29:51","date_gmt":"2021-01-18T13:29:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=77976"},"modified":"2025-10-09T18:04:17","modified_gmt":"2025-10-09T23:04:17","slug":"adult-american-coot-bathing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/01\/18\/adult-american-coot-bathing\/","title":{"rendered":"Adult American Coot Bathing"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AdultAdult American Coot bathing in icy cold water \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1000, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Three days ago I photographed this adult American Coot bathing on a sunny afternoon at a pond close to where I live in Salt Lake City.<\/p>\n

A few days before I took this photo the pond was almost completely iced over. Our recent warmer than normal temps melted the thin ice after one sunny day.<\/p>\n

As I focused on the bathing American Coot<\/span><\/a> I thought about how as humans we attempt to label this species as cantankerous, grumpy, fighters, cranky, loud, obnoxious, or as having a sour disposition.<\/p>\n

Truthfully they can be loud, they fight, and they are territorial.<\/p>\n

Yet I cringed when I thought about the labels we pin on coots because they behave the way they do without malice and it is never<\/em> because of overblown egos.<\/p>\n

Coots don’t get angry the way some people describe.<\/p>\n

Anger is human. Coots instinctively behave the way they do to breed and survive.<\/p>\n

I pushed my thoughts away and focused on the coot splashing in the icy cold water of the pond. I found joy in photographing a coot doing what coots do when the sun is shining and there is fresh water to bathe in.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

Three days ago I photographed this adult American Coot bathing on a sunny afternoon at a pond close to where I live in Salt Lake City.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":141823,"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":[4004,4010,5109,4373,5795,2772,2773,4121,4588,6241,1984,2688,3996,373],"class_list":["post-77976","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-bath","tag-bathing","tag-cold","tag-coot","tag-coots","tag-fulica-americana","tag-gruiformes","tag-icy","tag-pond","tag-splashing","tag-water","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/american-coot-adult-bathing-mia-mcpherson-8517.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-khG","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":50028,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/12\/22\/photographing-a-bathing-american-coot\/","url_meta":{"origin":77976,"position":0},"title":"Photographing a Bathing American Coot – TC On or TC Off?","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 22, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"I opted to leave my teleconverter on while photographing this bathing American Coot","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 shaking while taking a bath, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/american-coot-bathing-mia-mcpherson-8154.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-bathing-mia-mcpherson-8154.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/american-coot-bathing-mia-mcpherson-8154.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/american-coot-bathing-mia-mcpherson-8154.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":50628,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/01\/10\/photographing-an-american-coots-post-bathing-behavior\/","url_meta":{"origin":77976,"position":1},"title":"Photographing An American Coot’s Post Bathing Behavior","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 10, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Perhaps I am easy to please but I got a real kick out of photographing this American Coot while it bathed, shook and fluffed on the pond close to home.","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 post bath, Salt Lake County, 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anthropomorphic but this is one serious looking Coot.","rel":"","context":"In "American Coots"","block_context":{"text":"American Coots","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/gruiformes\/american-coots\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"One serious looking Coot, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/american-coot-winter-mia-mcpherson-6492.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-6492.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-6492.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-6492.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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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":55836,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/01\/28\/adult-american-coot-with-a-dirty-bill\/","url_meta":{"origin":77976,"position":4},"title":"Adult American Coot With A Dirty Bill","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 28, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"An American Coot with a dirty bill wasn't shy at all when it climbed out of the pond close enough for me to take 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 with a dirty bill, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/american-coot-dirty-bill-mia-mcpherson-5596.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-dirty-bill-mia-mcpherson-5596.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/american-coot-dirty-bill-mia-mcpherson-5596.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/american-coot-dirty-bill-mia-mcpherson-5596.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":118347,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/11\/18\/one-cute-coot-scoot\/","url_meta":{"origin":77976,"position":5},"title":"One Cute Coot Scoot","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"November 18, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"A few days ago, I was able to photograph one cute coot scooting past me at my local pond on a bright sunny Utah morning. 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