I've always liked coots. They're excellent mothers , impeccably smart in their black and white ensembles and they do build very designer-y nests .
And , as if that weren't enough , they can run on water . Magnificent !
This year ,there's a family ensconced next to the supermarket , in one of the strange emergency housing/floating window box affairs the council puts up along the canal where the water's too enclosed by high walls for nest-building .
Everyone going past is stopping to see how they're doing . On Friday we could all see eight eggs !
By yesterday evening , as passersby were hanging over the railing trying to see if any had hatched , we were rewarded by a glimpse of a rather squashed redheaded chick . And after I'd bought some tomatoes and a yoghurt , there were two ... and even more onlookers .
We're all going to have to nip along to buy something else today . Maybe we should have a club scarf ... black and white with a narrow red stripe ?
Oh , and talking about fan clubs ... It's no wonder the lady from my last post looks rather pleased with herself ; here she is in the Boijmans Museum in Rotterdam , still drawing admiring glances !
3 comments:
I'm a fan of these guys as well, although we don't see the same coots over on our side of the pond. But walking along urban waterways in London and Amsterdam particularly, I've been struck by how remarkably adaptive they are -- and the cuteness of Mama and chicks is pretty compelling. Shall we try for autographs?
What a great council to do that. We were in the park the other other day looking at ducks and one of the Council workmen pointed out a - oh no, it wasn't a coot, it was a grebe. Okay ignore that comment.
I like coots too; very dapper little birds. How nice to be able to watch the family emerge!
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