Coots are real things!!!

[MaBelle]

My dil was in my yard, waiting to pick up ds,  inspecting my garden and I went out to chat.  We noticed a really weird bird/duck thing in the yard at the same time that one of my cats saw it.  Cat attacked, I chased it off and decided I wanted the bird thing.  I yelled to my son to run and get me some gloves and I attempted to detain the bird duck.  He moved left, I moved left.  He moved right, I moved right.  He backed up, I stood my ground.  He had enough and attacked me and flew off.  Son gets earful for not moving fast enough.

I gave it up and went in a googled "bird duck black orange bill weird feet" and came up with "coot"!!!  

What do you know?  It's a real bird.  

[Jean in Newcastle]

We see coots all the time.  But the ones we see have white bills. 

[mumto2]

Coots have white bills and are very real.  😉 Moorhens have red...............

[Laura Corin]

I feel as if I'm missing a reference.  Why would coots and snipe not be real?

[Katy]

6 hours ago, Laura Corin said:

I feel as if I'm missing a reference.  Why would coots and snipe not be real?

 

Well calling someone an old coot is an insult.  And going on a "snipe hunt" is a classic way to burn a bunch of energy off of a group of young boys by sending them trudging through mud and brush, especially at boy scout camp.  In both cases many people are unaware the terms come from real creatures.  Especially in terms of snipe hunts, because no one is ever actually hunting them.

[Laura Corin]

8 minutes ago, Katy said:

 

Well calling someone an old coot is an insult.  And going on a "snipe hunt" is a classic way to burn a bunch of energy off of a group of young boys by sending them trudging through mud and brush, especially at boy scout camp.  In both cases many people are unaware the terms come from real creatures.  Especially in terms of snipe hunts, because no one is ever actually hunting them.

Oh, okay.

[MaBelle]

13 hours ago, mumto2 said:

Coots have white bills and are very real.  😉 Moorhens have red...............

One site I read said that coots were the same as moorhens, and had males with white and females with orange bills.  Or maybe vice versa.  I dunno, but it was a cool bird.

 

[MaBelle]

14 hours ago, Margaret in CO said:

So are Snipe!

I didn't know that either.  My dad talks about being sent on a snipe hunt, something about you had to chase them around and around up a hill because one of their legs is shorter than the other and they always walk uphill clockwise.  

My dad is full of bull, so I just laugh and assume he's umm....not telling the truth.

Off to google snipe.

[TrulySusan]

Dd was bitten by a coot while volunteering at a wildlife center. They are very uncommon in our area. Several weeks later dd became sick with some unusual symptoms, and in the long process of looking for a diagnosis, our poor pediatrician and the infectious disease people had to do all kinds of research to see if coots carry any unusual diseases (they don't). 😂

[kiwik]

14 hours ago, Katy said:

 

Well calling someone an old coot is an insult.  And going on a "snipe hunt" is a classic way to burn a bunch of energy off of a group of young boys by sending them trudging through mud and brush, especially at boy scout camp.  In both cases many people are unaware the terms come from real creatures.  Especially in terms of snipe hunts, because no one is ever actually hunting them.

But they must have used coot and snipe for a reason.  I have never heard the second saying and we don't have coot or snipe here but I knew they were birds of some description. I must have read off books as a child.

[Ausmumof3]

Now I’m wondering.  Does the word sniper come from shooting snipe?  

[Laura Corin]

Today's fun fact: Cocker Spaniels were used when hunting woodcock.

[klmama]

Boy scout camp, huh? Where I grew up, the rowdy boys would take new kids out to the cemetery to hunt snipes at night and would  leave them there alone in the dark.