The coot is at present a species of wide distribution. I say ‘at present’ because there is probably a developing proposal for a split, which will see our species designated ‘Australian’ or ‘Australasian’ or (heaven help us) ‘Pacific’. This morning I received an email from a French birdwatcher who was here a few weeks ago enclosing a photo taken that morning his time of counted ‘Foulques’ to the number of 110 in a flooded gravel pit near his home near Toulouse. This is at 1 below. This being the Australia Day week-end, I chose to treat this as a challenge to Canberra’s own status as a Foulques Centre of Excellence so I set out this morning with a wide lens camera. At QSP, and taking care to avoid the restricted areas, I found about 140 foulques, which are somewhere in the wide-angle snap at 2. I concede that although countable in an enlargement these are a little difficult to make out here, but some relevant specks are indicated by the arrow. 3 below is a crop showing 100 foulques. A little care in identification is needed. While the crop at 4 shows 20 foulques, that at 5 contains, in addition to some foulques and a Black Swan, 2 Hardhead Ducks. I think there are probably other places not too far from Canberra where there will be hundreds of foulques right now. And as I said to Jean-Pierre: “Ou est le Cygne Noir dans votre photo de foulques?” Given the nearby Pyrenees, though, Jean-Pierre is way ahead of us regarding Lammergeiers and Griffon Vultures.
