Coots are medium-sized water birds that are members of the rail family, Rallidae. They constitute the genus Fulica, the name being the Latin term for "coot." Coots have predominantly black plumage, and unlike many rails‚ they are usually easy to see, often swimming in open water.
Family: Rallidae
Scientific name: Fulica
Order: Gruiformes
Phylum: Chordata
Kingdom: Animalia
Origin
coot (n.) ... Perhaps from an unrecorded Old English word, or perhaps from Low German (compare Dutch meercoet "lake coot"). Meaning "silly person, fool" is attested from 1766.
Taste
Everyone already knows, of course, that the lowly coot (aka mud hen) is totally inedible. Coots feed exclusively on mud. Therefore, coots taste like mud.
Flock
Groups of coots are called covers or rafts. The oldest known coot lived to be 22 years old. The American coot is a migratory bird that occupies most of North America.
Nickname
Coots earned the nicknames marsh hen and mud hen because of they way their heads bob when they walk or swim like a chicken's head.
"Bald as a Coot"
The word 'bald' is actually derived from an old English word 'bala' which means 'white patch'. If you look at a coot, they have a white patch above their beak known as a 'knob' or a 'frontal shield'. It is this that has given rise to the term 'bald as a coot', rather than because they are featherless.
Tags: Coot
Rail
Water bird
Wildlife and nature
Rallidae
mud hen
Marsh Hen
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