With their bright orange and red feathers, North American coot chicks stick out like safety vests. A new study by the University of California Santa Cruz (UCSC) indicates that such coloration not only ...

The American coot is a somewhat drab water bird with gray and black feathers and a white beak, common in wetlands throughout North America. Coot chicks, however, sport outrageously bright orange and ...

An adult coot can recognize its own chicks and will attack a parasitic chick that hatches in its nest. Photo by B. Lyon. The American coot is a drab, seemingly unremarkable marsh bird common ...

On the surface, the gray, drab American coot is an unassuming bird similar to a duck. But the peculiar coloring of their chicks and their unorthodox parenting style have been a difficult puzzle for ...

SANTA CRUZ, CA -- Coots, the Rodney Dangerfields of the bird world, just might start to get some respect as a result of a new study showing that these common marsh birds are able to recognize and ...

SANTA CRUZ, CA--The American coot is a drab, seemingly unremarkable marsh bird common throughout North America. But its reproductive life is full of deception and violence. According to biologists at ...