American Coot
Fulica americana
Least Concern (IUCN Red List)Rails, Gallinules, and Coots
Call and song
Recording 1
Recording 2
Recording 3
About the American Coot
Plump, chicken-like bird that acts like a duck. Gray overall with blacker head and white bill. Tiny tail and short wings. Feet are large, yellow-green, and oddly lobed. Head jerks back and forth when swimming. Forages for aquatic vegetation anywhere with water: ponds, city parks, marshes, reservoirs, lakes, ditches, and saltmarshes.
Species account: eBird.org, fetched 2025-12-26 · How these pages are made
Where it has been recorded
Recorded in 50 of the 253 countries we have eBird lists for. Each opens that country's checklist.
- Anguilla
- Antigua and Barbuda
- Aruba
- Bahamas
- Barbados
- Belize
- Bermuda
- Canada
- Caribbean Netherlands
- Cayman Islands
- Clipperton Island
- Colombia
- Costa Rica
- Cuba
- Curaçao
- Dominica
- Dominican Republic
- Ecuador
- El Salvador
- Grenada
- Guadeloupe
- Guatemala
- Haiti
- Honduras
- Iceland
- Ireland
- Jamaica
- Martinique
- Mexico
- Montserrat
- Nicaragua
- Panama
- Peru
- Portugal
- Puerto Rico
- Saint Barthélemy
- Saint Kitts and Nevis
- Saint Lucia
- Saint Martin (French part)
- Saint Pierre and Miquelon
- Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
- Sint Maarten
- Spain
- Trinidad and Tobago
- Turks and Caicos Islands
- United Kingdom
- United States
- Venezuela
- Virgin Islands (British)
- Virgin Islands (U.S.)
