1:45 PM
Ryan Ankeny
Growing up my dad was fond of folksy colloquial expressions. I've heard things declared "As useless as a screen door on a submarine", or one of his favorites, "Six of one, half dozen a dozen of the other". Ask him how' he's been and you'll likely get the reply "Fair to middlin'." I can't even begin to count how many times I was told I was "Skating on thin ice" as a kid. A lot of times these sayings commonly involve animals or birds, such as, "Dead as a Dodo", "Doesn't have the sense God gave geese", or "happy as ducks in Arizona". The title of this post, "You old coot!" is an expression used to describe a cranky, surly, or pesky old person. Coots got implicated in this negative expression because they are just so danged common and numerous. Duck hunters consider them pests and a distraction because of this commonness. The sheer numbers of coots make it difficult locate and shoot more attractive and sought after ducks. After all, no one wants an American Coot mounted above the fireplace and they are less than palatable to the taste buds.
So to call someone an "old coot" is a way to deem them unwanted or unattractive. I for one don't think it's fair for coots to get such a bad rap. While they may not have the razzle dazzle of a Painted Bunting, they make up for it in personality and character. It's fun to watch these birds bebop around the pond and dive for food. One coot that has been around since the summer decided himself fit to stand in as a father figure for a Mallard hen and her brood. He would associate with the Mallards even when there were other coots on the pond. I'm not sure how accepted he was by the Mallards, they didn't seem to pay much attention to the stranger who was always lurking in the background.
These birds may superficially look like ducks, but they actually belong to the family Rallidae, a group of water birds like the Virginia Rail or Purple Gallinule. Their swimming habits may also resemble ducks, but their bills do not. As you can see, their bills are more chicken-like than duck-like. Also, these birds have lobate feet, meaning each digit is surrounded but flat lobes and is not fully webbed like the feet of ducks.
With the below freezing weather we've been having, the ponds have all but froze up. These three coots have been swimming non stop to keep this small patch of pond ice free. The water movement keeps the water from freezing so the birds have to be constantly moving to keep from getting frozen in the ice.
Needless to say I was "Happy as a box of birds" to see these coots at the landfill. I think these guys are just "ducky". "A little bird told me" that if you want a "bird's eye view" of some of the best bird blogs, then "flock like birds of a feather together" over to the Pine River Review. Don't be "buzzard bait" and click the link below.
