Mar 1, 2025 · Coot nests are not simple, haphazard arrangements of plant matter; they are skillfully constructed platforms designed to float and withstand the elements. The coot diligently collects and weaves together the surrounding vegetation, layering it …

The American coot is a prolific builder and will create multiple structures during a single breeding season. It nests in well-concealed locations in tall reeds. There are three general types of structures: display platforms, egg nests and brood nests. Display platforms are used as roosting sites and are left to decompose after copulation.

Nest (built by both sexes) is floating platform of dead cattails, bulrushes, sedges, lined with finer materials, anchored to standing plants. Several similar platforms may be built, only one or two used for nesting.

A close look at a coot—that small head, those scrawny legs—reveals a different kind of bird entirely. Their dark bodies and white faces are common sights in nearly any open water across the continent, and they often mix with ducks.

Nest Placement. Nests are almost always built over water on floating platforms and almost always associated with dense stands of living or dead vegetation such as reeds, cattails, bulrushes, sedges, and grasses. Occasionally, the nest may be built on the edge of a stand of vegetation, where it is clearly visible. Nest Description

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.

The nest is a bulky structure that either floats on the water or is built in shallow water on a low or barely submerged stump or log, making a neat, large bowl. It is constructed of plant stems and leaves with a lining of finer material.

American coots are gregarious birds often seen in large rafts on the open water of lakes, marshes and larger rivers, especially during migration. These small, plump, duck-like birds feed by tipping up to reach tender vegetation on the bottom of a marsh.

Sep 1, 2017 · American Coots will construct up to nine nests in the course of laying two clutches of eggs and seven nests for a single clutch, with the number of clutches being dependent on latitude. Display nests constructed of coarse materials are built first.

Coot nests are cups woven from dried leaves and stems of marsh plants; often they are floating and anchored to surrounding emergent vegetation. Nests may or may not be well concealed (Alisauskas and Arnold 1994).