Subject: American Coots, Fulica americana

Location: Alamosa National Wildlife Refuge, Colorado

Stock Number: 04-1959 (above) and 04-2001 (below)

Comments: I was scanning the shore plants with my bird lens. Suddenly, I was horrified to see what seemed to be a helpless baby bird that had fallen out of the nest and into the muck.

Then I noticed an adult American Coot nearby, and saw the parent pass a juicy piece of cattail to the baby. Though the baby looked a lot like a nestling, it was actually pretty adept at moving around in the water. For quite some time it walked and swam along with its parent, always ready to accept the cattail pieces when offered.

In this particular encounter I saw one adult and one baby bird.

Fifteen minutes later at Alamosa National Wildlife Refuge, I saw two adult Coots and three babies. The parents were making alarm clucks, and the babies quickly swam to join their parents deep in the reeds.

I just barely had time to take this one photo of two baby Coots swimming to safety.

Coots, by the way, are not ducks, but rails. They are, in many ways, ducklike in appearance and behavior.