This is bird note.

It's a calm winter morning. The lake is still.

What is that sound?

Ah, the cackling, grunting and croaking of American koots calling to one another.

Koots are plump chicken-like water birds, very dark gray.

They settle on to lakes and estuaries, forming rafts of hundreds even thousands of birds. They like to... ... and agricultural crops. Here come a few now.

Check out the yellow orange legs and feet.

Look carefully and you'll see an unusual adaptation,

not the usual webs.

Instead, Koots have lobed toes to help them swim and

maneuver underwater. Although they are excellent swimmers, koots are awkward and clumsy fliers. are trying to take flight, flapping their wings and slapping their lobed toes against the surface of the water.

All that effort usually produces only short flights within 20 feet of the surface.

Already they're settling back onto the water.

For Bird Note, I'm Michael Stein.

For Bird Note, I'm Michael Stein.