189. Red-knobbed Coot (Fulica cristata)

Red-knobbed Coots are found in a few very localised spots in Morocco and Spain, inhabiting the same kind of habitat (and often alongside) Eurasian Coots. They can be very hard to tell apart at a distance, even more so outside the breeding season when the red knobs shrink! The blue tinge to the bill is a clue, and the feathering adjacent to it does not form a pointed wedge into the upper mandible as it does with Eurasian Coot. In flight its wings do not have a white trailing edge (as Eurasian Coots' do) and on the water their bodies appear less smoothly rounded, with a raised squarish rump.

Red-knobbed Coot, ©Agustín Povedano, via Flickr Creative Commons.

Red-knobbed Coot.

Hmm, proportions of the head and bill are rather wonky. I quite like the texture on the neck though.