They are less wary than ducks and drift casually away from an intruder but when seriously alarmed they skitter off, spanking and splattering the water with their wings and feet until airborne. The coot is the most aquatic member of its family, which includes the gallinules and rails. Its long toes, with sharp toenails, have scalloped lobes which enable it to swim and dive like a duck but it can run quite rapidly on land. Coots are very noisy, gabbling all sorts of croaks, hoots, grunts and other queer sounds.
All coots have a silly gawky expression and adult males have fiery red eyes.
They are as good to eat as ducks and many are killed by hunters. They feed on small aquatic animals and underwater plants but are especially fond of chara or musk grass. By November, always migrating at night, they have departed for the Gulf Coast, the West Indies, Mexico or Central America. The Florida Gallinule or Water Hen is found in freshwater marshes from California to Chile, and from Argentina to Maine, Ontario and Minnesota. Although much more common in our southern states, a few nest here in Cook County.