Six resident wild coots now stay at the marina and feed by
the sidewalk. The first returnee is shown below.
Freddie was actually here last November and is easily identified from old
photographs.The first way to recognize coots from the previous winter is that they easily recognize me. This may
indicate that coots can form lifetime bonds with specific individuals of different species.
Years ago, I never expected any of these birds to return because of the salt water. However, winter philopatry is not uncommon in waterfowl, and this link to an article in the Auk is applicable:
Winter philopatry in migratory waterfowl
This research gives several obvious reasons why a bird would return to the same place every winter. I often wonder if I influence the few coots that return here every year. The tiny bit of food I give them can't possible help them survive here.
The next returnee is called "male number 2" and is a familiar face from last year. This bird was also present two years ago, and is a calm and even tempered coot. Before, I thought this was a returned female because of his quiet personality and indistinct facial appearance. After seeing his interaction with other coots, it is now clear that he is a male.
The next returnee from last year is a large and agile male. He can leap from the water up to the dock sixteen inches high. He comes to be fed by the sidewalk, but is not very social with the other coots. He is called "male number 3." One of his distinctive physical characteristics is a relatively large and wide head.
Freddie's companion is simply called "the female". She arrived soon after Freddie (below right), and began hanging around him. Early in November, she is extremely shy and wild. She seems horrified to see Freddie climb up to the sidewalk away from the safety of the water.
The following picture shows the best available shot of her. She is learning to come up to the sidewalk for food, but mostly stays in the water. The two stay together now, and they always greet me by the gate in the morning when I arrive about an hour before sunrise. I can easily recognize her in the dark since she will "croak" at me using the female recognition call. Most females don't call to me.
Starvin' Marvin the socially maladjusted and kleptoparisitic coot returned November 24 with a female companion. They are shown in the following picture. The coot on the left shows the unmistakable assymetrical frontal shield that could only be Marvin. By the end of the month, the female companion is gone and Marvin comes to my boat in the mornings to steal food from Beaky and Missy.
A small dog on the next boat has prevented the two tame coots from coming up out of the water to eat and drink. After a week of being forced to run for their lives, Beaky and his mate come up to me and squawk loudly to be fed, but refuse to come out of the water. Otherwise, they must be fed by hand.
Beaky pulls and pulls on the dish, and since I know he is starving and hasn't had a decent meal in a week, I let him have the food and take the dish with him. At times I see Missy outside the docks associated with the number 3 male. Perhaps her difficulty in obtaining food inside the yacht basin has sent her looking for a new mate. Beaky is stubborn and not likely to abandon his territory. He often comes to the boat alone.
I constructed another step on the other side of the boat, and after two days, he comes back up to eat. Both coots are still extremely nervous and spend as little time as possible on the boat. They arrive at least an hour before sunrise every morning. Since they still don't take time enough to drink from the cup, I am unable to administer any vitamins or antibiotics in their drinking water.
It is unfortunate that Beaky Coot cannot come up on the boat and sit with me in the morning again. One of the most compelling characteristics about coots is their unusual tendency to flock with other species. A perfectly wild coot may act like a puppy, and stay near because of the coot's "pack" instinct. After a few years we found that there is little I could do to protect him from the hawk, or other predators, and he would make an easy meal if he became trapped in the boat's cockpit.
Beaky Coot's frontal shield (shown above) seems larger and more swollen than ever. This indicates a high testosterone level in a dominant male coot maintaining a mate and territory in the breeding season. At the end of the month he often crows at the edge of his territory in the mornings.
The Frontal Shield of the American Coot
The above link describes the frontal shield and how the research on it was done. Beaky is left alone in the spring and summer breeding season because he can't fly. In the summer he often seems sick and his frontal shield deflates. His annual cycle is backwards.
This male Brewers blackbird often comes to get a worm in the mornings. This one male seems to recognize me, and will wait patiently to be fed.
Female coots have been rare here in winter migration at the marina, and I haven't studied their calls. I have the call given by a female coot when attacked by a male recorded below.Female Cackle Call Before, it was just one female. The last week in November I saw Missy with the number 2 male inside the docks and Missy was trying to eject him from her territory. He was cornered, and didn't respect her authority much, so he threatened to attack her. She started making the racheting female cackle, and Freddie's female mate nearby on the other side of the dock responded with a similar call. I observed this twice that morning.
Returnees that are young birds seem to change in personality over the summer. Both Missy and Starvin' Marvin have greatly mellowed personalities upon their return. Missy was impatient and feisty toward Beaky on her first winter, and is much quieter and reserved now. Two years ago Starvin' Marvin would use every hostile and aggressive display and call toward any other coots nearby. One of the larger males realized he was harmless and eventually would push and shove him back down from the sidewalk into the bay. Now he is calm and humble with a new mate, but the winter is still just starting for him.
These coots (above) returned to the park nearby where they were being killed by passing cars last winter. In December, 2006 and January, 2007 one or two coots were killed each day or two until January 26. On that day there was a huge "massacre" and these birds never went into the street again. No coots had wintered on the grass here until 2005. At that time, a gardener told me that the Port of San Diego took over maintenance of the park from the city and started overwatering the lawns. Since then, the coots are attracted by fresh water puddles and ponds. Occasionally they will try to cross the street to reach the center divider where more grass is available.
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