What Coot Chicks Can Teach Us
<p>Coots are very common on Lago Trasimeno, the fourth largest lake in Italy and a place that my husband Andy and I have been coming to since our honeymoon almost thirty years ago. So common that I have to remind myself not to see one and dismiss it as “just a coot,” as I discussed in my last <a href="https://medium.com/@slaughteram/its-never-just-a-mallard-what-birding-can-teach-us-about-winning-the-war-in-ukraine-d574af653eb1" rel="noopener">post</a>. They make big messy stick nests wherever they can find a raised patch of ground; both parents are very involved in raising the chicks.</p>
<p><img alt="" src="https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:700/1*2L0YDM3LJpc2JC0bdG45mw.png" style="height:467px; width:700px" /></p>
<p>The chicks themselves are something else again. I was incredulous the first time I saw one; they look like a cross between a black rubber duckie and a rambutan (a decidedly curious looking tropical fruit).</p>
<p><a href="https://medium.com/@slaughteram/boybands-have-nothing-on-coot-chicks-4be26fe9ca2"><strong>Website</strong></a></p>