r/whatsthisbird • u/PriorEntertainer8695 • 1d ago

North America Who is this guy.

Gallery image

Gallery image

Oklahoma. This is definitely not a native bird.

Edit: most likely an American coot. I’ve just never seen one before here and they were all alone. Had to chase them out of the road in a parking lot because they refused to move for a car.

202 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

26 comments sorted by

154

u/Working-Phase-4480 1d ago

+American Coot+ a native bird

34

u/CatPicturesPlease 1d ago

Yeah i could see why you would think it was exotic. I've never seen one out of water before...they look awkward as heck on land

6

u/AWandMaker 12h ago

They have the wildest looking feet!
Edit: link

15

u/MRI-guy 13h ago

These guys were my spark bird. We moved to an apartment near a small lake and one day I woke up and there were literally hundreds of American coots resting during migration and I was so interested in how they could just show up when I've never seen them before.

27

u/Cyan_Lotus nightjar enjoyer (I too eat bugs at night) 1d ago

does anyone know if coots typically just stand around in open mulch like that??

Native bird btw but typically rather uncommon, and not really well known unless you frequent suitable habitat for it.

4

u/ThrowAwayColor2023 23h ago

Nope. Probably migrating and disoriented.

4

u/HotMess-ColdCoffee 23h ago

Definitely not. They are the biggest chicken$h!ts I’ve ever encountered. They’re certainly disoriented from travel and checking their mental google maps.

12

u/Chaps_and_salsa 1d ago

Love their little webbed toes

9

u/irregular_stork 22h ago

They are lobed toes—they don't join up like webbed feet do

9

u/Icy_Escape8018 1d ago

Toledo Mudhens are named after this bird

3

u/FileTheseBirdsBot Catalog 🤖 1d ago

Taxa recorded: American Coot

I catalog submissions to this subreddit. Recent uncatalogued submissions | Learn to use me

3

u/OshetDeadagain 21h ago

You're all wrong - this is clearly a COOOOOT!!!

3

u/HalcyonTraveler 19h ago

Never seen one of these guys standing, I always assumed their legs were shorter than this

3

u/Fun-Sir-3727 14h ago

Those FEET…why?!

2

u/Suspence2 23h ago

I once saw an American Coot drag a corpse into the lake once..never have see ln these things the same way..

1

u/HalcyonTraveler 19h ago

Like... a human corpse????

2

u/mugen-and-jin 23h ago

Better get your cootie shot

1

u/springtimelime 1d ago

I love how the second pic looks like he caught you taking a picture and it spooked you

1

u/No_Store_6605 4h ago

American Coot

1

u/humble_gardner 1h ago

American coot