Coots are medium-sized water birds that are members of the rail family, Rallidae

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. They are close relatives of the moorhen. However, the Coot typically appears ‘dumpier’ and lack the distinctive red frontal face of the moorhen. Coots have prominent frontal shields or other decoration on the forehead, with red to dark red eyes and coloured bills. Many have white on the under tail. The featherless shield gave rise to the expression “as bald as a coot“, which the Oxford English Dictionary cites in use as early as 1430. Like other rails, they have long, lobed toes that are well adapted to soft, uneven surfaces. Coots have strong legs and can walk and run vigorously. They tend to have short, rounded wings and are weak fliers, though northern species nevertheless can cover long distances. They typically congregate in large rafts in open water. They are socially gregarious and messy aquatic feeders. The greatest species variety occurs in South America, and the genus likely[weasel words] originated there. They are common in Europe and North America. Coot species that migrate do so at night. The American coot has been observed rarely in Britain and Ireland, while the Eurasian coot is found across Asia, Australia and parts of Africa. In southern Louisiana, the coot is referred to by the French name “poule d'eau“, which translates into English as “water hen“. Coots are omnivorous, eating mainly plant material, but also small animals, fish and eggs. They are aggressively territorial during the breeding season, but are otherwise often found in sizeable flocks on the shallow vegetated lakes they prefer. Chick mortality occurs mainly due to starvation rather than predation as coots have difficulty feeding a large family of hatchlings on the tiny shrimp and insects that they collect. Many chicks die in the first 10 days after hatching, when they are most dependent on adults for food. Coots can be very brutal to their own young under pressure such as the lack of food, and after about three days they start attacking their own chicks when they beg for food. After a short while, these attacks concentrate on the weaker chicks, who eventually give up begging and die. The coot may eventually raise only two or three out of nine hatchlings. In this attacking behaviour, the parents are said to “tousle“ their young. This can result in the death of the chick. Coots 是中型水鳥，是鐵路家族 Rallidae 的成員。它們構成了 Fulica 屬，這個名字是拉丁語中“coot”的意思。白骨頂主要是黑色的羽毛，而且——與許多欄杆不同——它們通常很容易看到，經常在開闊的水域游泳。它們是摩爾母雞的近親。然而，Coot通常看起來“笨拙”，並且沒有moorhen獨特的紅色正面。 白骨頂在前額上有突出的前盾或其他裝飾，有紅色到深紅色的眼睛和彩色的喙。許多人的尾巴下方有白色。無羽毛的盾牌產生了“像白骨頂一樣禿頂”的說法，牛津英語詞典早在 1430 年就引用了這一說法。與其他欄杆一樣，它們有長而淺的腳趾，可以很好地適應柔軟、不平坦的表面。白骨頂有強壯的腿，可以有力地走路和奔跑。它們往往有短而圓的翅膀，飛行能力弱，儘管北方物種可以長距離飛行。它們通常聚集在開闊水域的大木筏中。他們是群居的和凌亂的水生飼養者。 最大的物種品種出現在南美洲，該屬可能 [weasel words] 起源於那裡。它們在歐洲和北美很常見。遷徙的白骨頂物種在夜間進行。在英國和愛爾蘭很少觀察到美洲白骨頂，而在亞洲、澳大利亞和非洲部分地區發現了歐亞白骨頂。在路易斯安那州南部，白骨頂被稱為法語名稱“poule d'eau”，在英語中翻譯為“水母雞”。 白骨頂是雜食性的，主要吃植物材料，但也吃小動物、魚和蛋。在繁殖季節，它們具有很強的領地意識，但在其他情況下，它們經常在它們喜歡的淺水植被湖泊上成群結隊地被發現。 雛雞死亡的主要原因是飢餓而不是捕食，因為白骨頂很難用它們收集的小蝦和昆蟲餵養一大群幼鳥。許多小雞在孵化後的前 10 天內死亡，因為此時它們最依賴成體獲取食物。在缺乏食物等壓力下，白骨頂會對自己的幼崽非常殘忍，大約三天后，當它們乞求食物時，它們就會開始攻擊自己的幼崽。不久之後，這些攻擊集中在較弱的小雞身上，它們最終放棄乞討而&a