Volker's Photo Blog: The American Coot - what an odd-looking bird

Blogging

Shortly after I came out to British Columbia in early 2006 I had a case of severely high blood pressure. It wouldn't have been fair to an employer for me to work for them until I got my health situation sorted out. I was on medications to lower the blood pressure and it took until early 2007 to find the cause. I finally went to a naturopath who found that a microscopic parasite was the cause for all this.

While getting my health in order, I took up blogging to share my photography. This way I wasn't wasting time and others got to enjoy the photos, not just me and those close to me.

In May of this year I had a mini-stroke cause again by severely high blood pressure. I may end up gong to the naturopath again since the specialist and other MDs can't seem to find the cause. This has only been a problem out here. Before that in Ontario, the blood pressure was only marginally high, not severely high like in BC.

Knowledge is good because being forewarned is forearmed!

All that said, enjoy this blog and all the photos I share with you.

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

The American Coot - what an odd-looking bird

Aside from the swans mentioned in the last post, there are a number of other waterfowl that frequent the lagoon at Stanley Park. One of them is the American Coot, Fulica americana, with a length of 15.5 inches, a wingspan of 24 inches and a weight of 1.4 pounds (650 g). It's an odd-looking bird to say the least. It looks like a beginner's trial at creating a waterbird: well, let's take a round body, add a short neck, a small head with an odd beak and attach some strange feet and see what it will do! Here you have the result. Click on the images and take a closer look.

Ever wondered what birds are thinking when they gaze into the water? Think about that for a moment! Here are a few more photos of the coot taken on past visits.