This week we have an American coot (Fulica americana,) found in the ponds of Savannah National Wildlife Refuge in South Carolina. I’d photographed one once before this, in Wakodahatchee Wetlands in Delray Beach, Florida – not a very good shot, but it showed their semi-webbed feet well – but as for being featured on the blog, this only happened once, four years ago. Which was the last time we were down at Savannah NWR, which we’ll have to remedy soon.
This coot was sharing the same space with common moorhens gallinules and purple gallinules, and as I type this, I find that what was considered the common moorhen in the US, the same species as found in Europe and Africa, isn’t – they are genetically distinct and now considered a separate species as of 2011. Which is funny, because I also featured that species in the same post in 2020, but this new nomenclature had not yet propagated to my identification sources; for birds, this is usually Cornell University’s All About Birds site, though I can’t recall if I used it then. The point I was making, however, was that despite their very similar appearance, habits, and habitats, they’re all distinctly different species, different genuses in fact.
But I’d featured both of those species multiple times before now, while the American coot was only once, so that’s what we’re discussing now. Even if it is the least remarkable in appearance. I did what I could with the opportunities, but you almost get the impression that the pics would have been better without the distraction of the drab birds in there. I mean, they have red eyes, but then someone said, “That’s a bit garish – let’s tone it down a bit.” They probably resent the change to “gallinule,” too. Oh, wait, that was the other one…