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Alternative name: Andean Coot

Fulica ardesiaca

Bird with white bill
Photo by juninho
Location: Pantanos de Villa, Peru

Bird with red shield
Photo by BirdsPeru
Location: Huaraz, Peru July 2001

[edit] Identification

16 inches. Slate colour, blackish head and neck, bulging frontal shield, and variable bill and shield colors. Typical form in the south of the range has blood-red shield with yellowish bill, but bill can have other colors. A less common form shows white shield and bill, or less commonly yellow shield and white bill.

[edit] Similar species

American Coot has a darker overall color and flatter shield.

[edit] Distribution

Andes of Ecuador to northern Argentina and northern Chile.

[edit] Taxonomy

• A monotypic species. Some authorities recognize a secondary subspecies, atrura.¹
• Formerly lumped within American Coot, F. americana.

[edit] Habitat

Lakes and marshes, sometimes found down to sea level but regularly in Andean high steppe.

[edit] Behaviour

[edit] References

1. "atrura" described in Fjeldsa, 1983 Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 103 p.22
2. Alvaro Jaramillo. 2003. Birds of Chile. Princeton Field Guides. ISBN 0-691-11740-3
3. Restall et al. 2006. Birds of Northern South America. Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300124156

[edit] External Links