By Mariano Gómez · Updated on 9 October 2026

Birds

Eurasian Coot, the bird in mourning with the white shield and lobed toes

Fulica atraHear its song0:26

Photo gallery of the Eurasian Coot

Identification of the Eurasian Coot

The Eurasian Coot is a robust, good-sized rail, with practically black plumage, apart from the flanks and underparts, which take on a certain greyish tone, and the tips of the secondary flight feathers, which are white. The most striking aspect of its anatomy is the white frontal shield, which narrows towards the base of the bill, also white. Out of the water its peculiar toes can be seen, long and lobed with broad rounded lobes, which help the bird move forward when it swims.

Adult

• Almost black plumage, with flanks and underparts somewhat greyish.
• White frontal shield and bill.
• White tips to the secondary flight feathers.

Young bird

• Brownish dress with greyish nuances, paler on the throat and face.
• Shield much reduced and ochre in colour.

Habitat and distribution of the Eurasian Coot

It is a widely distributed species, which can be seen from North Africa to the Far East. In Europe it is spread evenly across all suitable sites, even in the Scandinavian countries. Several subspecies have been described, and in Spain we find «atra».

It is distributed across the wetlands of the whole Peninsula, the Canaries and the Balearics, and is absent from Ceuta and Melilla; it is less frequent in Galicia, Asturias and Cantabria. Accommodating by nature, it is not particularly demanding: it settles in a great variety of natural or artificial wetlands, from brackish lagoons to marshes, reservoirs, rivers and mountain lakes. It usually favours open, calm waters, of relative depth and little current, with plenty of muddy shores and dense stands of marsh vegetation in which it hides and nests. It needs submerged vegetation, which can be a limiting factor in breeding. In winter it frequents habitats of the same characteristics.

It behaves as a partial migrant: birds of central and southern Europe are sedentary, although they make movements of some range in bad weather or when food is scarce, and the northern populations move south in the unfavourable season, so that some end up in the Guadalquivir marshes, the Ebro delta and El Hondo, and even cross to Africa. The coots resident in Spain are basically sedentary, although dispersive movements after breeding and flights away because of droughts are usual.

Etymology of the Eurasian Coot

According to Wikipedia, the scientific name comes from Latin: «Fulica» means «coot» and «atra», «black». Linnaeus described it in 1758. In other languages it is called «fotja comuna» in Catalan, «galo de auga común» in Galician, «kopetazuri arrunta» in Basque and «Eurasian coot» in English¹.

Population of the Eurasian Coot

In the 2021 European Red List of Birds the European breeding population is estimated at between 2,030,000 and 3,360,000 mature individuals, with a decreasing trend. The last census, from 2007, put the figure in Spain at 50,200–112,500 birds, a number that varies every year because of the irregular water levels of the wetlands, and the population seems to be on a slight downward trend, as in the rest of the continent¹. Although the species seems to be in a good conservation state, it depends on wetlands with certain characteristics, so human-induced changes can affect the population locally; drought cycles and hunting pressure also have an influence.

Nest of the Eurasian Coot

The nest is a bulky platform of aquatic plant stems, which the birds bend to make a floating structure that is nevertheless firmly anchored to the bottom, because the stems used are still alive. Then both adults add other materials to the nest and even go as far as building a kind of roof that insulates and camouflages the platform.

Courtship and breeding of the Eurasian Coot

When the breeding season begins, paired birds leave the groups to breed among the riverside vegetation, and are very territorial and exclusive: skirmishes and chases that end in fierce fights are usual. From March the females lay 6 to 10 greyish, finely spotted eggs in the nest, which both adults incubate for 21–24 days. The chicks are quite precocious: they soon leave the platform for the water, where their parents feed them, and they stay with them. At two months they reach full development. Because of the large losses caused by predators, it is quite usual for them to make up to three clutches a year.

Diet of the Eurasian Coot

Its diet contains food of animal and plant origin, although the latter predominates. It eats a great variety of plants, preferring shoots, stems and seeds of submerged aquatic plants, algae, and stems and rhizomes of cattails, reeds or rushes, which it supplements with some land plants, in particular cereals. The animal component increases in the breeding season, above all to feed the chicks, with molluscs, earthworms, larvae, water beetles and even small vertebrates.

Curious facts about the Eurasian Coot

It is a very prolific bird, which produces numerous, repeated clutches every year, perhaps as a mechanism to offset the intense predation it suffers¹. EURING lists a bird ringed in the Netherlands that lived 23 years and 1 month, against AnAge’s 20.6.

The Eurasian Coot in Cabañeros

The habitat pages of this website do not mention it. GBIF.org records 66 observations of the Eurasian Coot in Cabañeros and its surroundings.

Where to see the Eurasian Coot in Cabañeros

In Cabañeros and its surroundings, all year round, in lagoons and reservoirs with marsh-vegetation shores.

When

All year round; in winter more are seen, in flocks.

What time

In good light.

Where

In wetlands of open, calm water of some depth, with marsh and submerged vegetation: lagoons, reservoirs and marshes.

What to look for

Look for the almost black plumage, the white shield and bill and, out of the water, the lobed toes.

Videos of the Eurasian Coot

Similar species

Common Moorhen

Gallinula chloropus

How to tell them apart

The list of similar species in the source only repeats «focha común»¹. The Common Moorhen belongs, like the coot, to the rail family (Rallidae).

Photo: TRinaud, CC BY 4.0

Other birds

Bibliography

• Jiménez García-Herrera, José. (2017). Aves de Cabañeros y su entorno. Madrid, Spain: Ecohábitat.
• SEO Birdlife - Sociedad Española de Ornitología
• https://es.wikipedia.org/
• Hume, Rob. (2016). Guía de campo de las Aves de España y Europa. Barcelona, Spain: Ediciones Omega