American Coot

Description: 15" Gray duck-like bird with a white bill and frontal shield, white undertail coverts, and lobed toes, frontal shield has a red swelling at its upper edge, visible at close range, immatures similar but paler	Habitat: Marshes, wetlands, ponds, lakes, bayous, marshy rivers. In winter, occasionally found on salt water. Very common. Usually seen in large flocks close to shore. Bobs its head when swimming. Often dives to feed.
Nesting: 8 to 10 pinkish eggs spotted with brown on a shallow platform of dead leaves and stems, usually on water but anchored to clump of leaves	Range: breeds from western Canada to New York, locally southward, winters in southern US primarily and in tropics
Voice: variety of clucks, cackles, and several harsh-sounding notes	Diet: Mostly aquatic vegetation, algae; also fish, tadpoles, crustaceans, snails, worms, aquatic and terrestrial insects, eggs of other marsh-nesting birds. Pirates plants from ducks.