American Coot Strange Migrating Waterfowl

 Coots are one of the last of the waterfowl migrating through Springbrook right now. I took these pictures from the boardwalk during the bird banding program last Sunday.

Coots are not ducks, but they are found among ducks.  They are more closely related to rails and cranes. They have a bill shaped like a rail, and each toe has its own webbing, instead of the whole foot being webbed together as ducks have.  Some of the webbing on the toes can be seen in the picture below.