Coots have strange feet anyway so when one or both of them has defects things can get a little weird.
This is a speed skating coot on ice with normal feet, at least what passes for ‘normal’ in American Coots. Like most (though not all) birds coots have 3 forward pointing toes and one, the hallux, that points backward. Their toes have distinctive lateral lobes, indented at each toe segment. The color of their legs and oversized feet varies from yellow-green to yellow-orange.
I’m only including the photo above to show what coot feet normally look like.
Yesterday while searching through my files in search of something else I stumbled across a coot photo that caught my attention because of the bird’s unusual feet, unusual even for a coot.
I’m not even sure why I saved the photo – in most ways it certainly isn’t one I’d typically keep.
What first caught my eye yesterday was the unusual bulbous reddish swelling at the tip of one of the toes on its left foot. But when I looked more carefully it became apparent that the entire left foot and part of the lower leg were far from normal. And even the right foot may have anomalies.
I’m far from an expert on coot feet but to my untrained eye the following foot features appear to be atypical:
- the obvious reddish bulbous swelling at the tip of one of the toes on the left foot. That toe is also missing its claw or ‘toenail’.
- there are additional bulbous swellings further back on that foot and lower leg
- much of the color of the left foot is different from the color of the right foot
- the hallux or rear toe appears to be missing on the left foot
- the left foot appears to be missing its inner front toe (digit #2) and the right foot appears to be missing its outer front toe (digit #4)
- the inner toe on the right foot seems to be missing its claw
- I’m not seeing normal lateral lobes on any of the toes on either foot. At times they can be hard to see but if they’re there I’m surprised they aren’t obvious on one or more of the toes
I don’t remember this bird having trouble walking nor do I recall noticing anything else unusual about it in the field.
At first I thought only the left foot was atypical and wondered if its anomalies could be caused by fishing line that we can’t see cutting off its circulation. But since both feet seem to be affected to varying degrees some kind of congenital defect seems more likely to me.
Any thoughts from my readers? You may wonder why I even care, especially at this late date, but it isn’t particularly unusual for me to see bird anomalies in the field and I like to have at least some insight into their possible cause. There are many rehabbers, falconers, veterinarians and others who see my blog and are generous with their experience and knowledge about such things so in situations similar to this I like to reach out to them for help and advice.
And sometimes it’s the average Joe or Joanna who comes up with the eventual answer that is most likely correct.
Ron
All interesting comments. I thought fishing line right away until I read all the other information from you very savvy birders.
Fishing line: sort of like submerged barbed wire for birds.
Poor little coot. My first thought was congenital because of the missing lobes combined with an injury. I wonder if birds can have something similar to amniotic band syndrome (that would possibly explain the bilateral missing toes) or if it was just a case of this bird’s gene pool needing to be chlorinated.
In any event, thanks for highlighting one of my favorite bird species, lobed toes and all. 🙂
Marty, I hate to admit it, especially to you :), but I had to look up amniotic band syndrome. After reading about it I can see why it came to mind.
I only know about it because many years ago I had a student who had it.
The pattern of the left leg looks like fishing line injury. Perhaps the end of the toe lost circulation from the fishing line and became necrotic, falling off and leaving a open wound causing a entry for more infection. The coot still has a lot of necrotic flesh on the foot, including what looks like part of a dead lobe on the sore bulbous toe. He is missing the hallux and digit 2. He also looks to have some bumble foot or pressure sore on the right foot where he bears weight on the bottom pad of the foot where the toes connect.
Is this a test for all your rehab readers? It is hard to tell conclusively without the bird in hand. I am guessing cause of injury by past experience, using visual from a photo.
Ha, not a test April. Just hoping for some insight.
At least part of your ‘diagnosis’ is very similar to what Louise said.
I can only say “poor Coot,” and hope that he didn’t suffer for too long with all those injuries (assuming this is a much older photo and he’s long gone by now). Truthfully, when I saw your first pic of the skating bird, I thought “poor Coot” because I had no idea those are normal-looking feet! 🙄
I’m glad you included your last sentence, Chris. It points out just how strange looking coot feet can be to folks who aren’t familiar with them.
Happy New Year Ron, sorry I am a bit late. The only other birds that I have seen with what appears to be malformed feet are Crows and Rock Pigeons. I often wonder if interbreeding may be a cause as oddities can occur in cats from close breedings??? My first birds to photograph on Jan. 1st 2021 were a pair of Bald Eagles, a male and female Hooded Merganser, a male Common Merganser, a male and female Bufflehead and a Common Goldeneye……I feel like I hit the Jackpot! Take care Ron.
Congrats on your interesting first birds of the year, Shirley.
I would say the indentations in the left leg were definitely the result of fishing line. As are the missing hallux (D1) and D2 (inner front toe) on the left foot. And possibly the claw/tip of the right D2. Fishing line either still embedded or gone. But the missing right D4 (front outer) that we can see so clearly looks too clean to be an injury – I would guess that is congenital. The red bulbous tip on the left foot is definitely a current injury. Errant fishing line is really lethal, in my experience. I’ve had osprey or screech owls hanging from trees in it. It can dig in (as in the left leg here) and cut down to the bone, cut off circulation, and more. I also assume it’s painful as hell.
Just a note: It’s Christmas Bird Count Day here – so I’m sitting in my jammies, binocs and clipboard in hand, as I count my backyard birds. My idea of fun!
Interesting. So it’s likely that this coot has unrelated foot issues on both feet. If so Lady Luck had surely abandoned this poor bird.
I will say though that the apparent absence of any lateral lobes still surprises me.
Thanks for chiming in Louise, and enjoy your jammie birds!
I forgot about the missing lateral lobes – I would guess that would have to be congenital as well, as the toes don’t show any sign of injury, skin is intact, no scarring, etc. Yes – poor guy definitely seems to be having to make his own luck.
Yet another proof (and I needed none) of the adaptability and stoicism of birds (and species other than our own more generally). I am very pleased to hear that it was navigating successfully and will defer to others to find out more.
EC, I took this photo long ago so I’m not sure the coot was behaviorally unaffected by its foot problems but I think I’d have remembered it if there’d been an obvious issue.
I assumed as much. I know how important behaviour is to you, and am confident that you would have remembered if it had been obviously struggling.
You’ve got me pegged… 🙂
Bumblefoot, a staf infection, is a plague among birds who put weight on their feet – captive birds are particularly prone, but the worst infection I ever saw was on a wild young Redtail. It has many different manifestations. This may be a possibility here, or a secondary problem on top of an injury. The leg does look as if something is imbedded in it.
Sallie, I wondered about the possibility of bumblefoot but I discarded it for two reasons – both feet seem to be affected to some degree instead of just one and compared to many other birds coots spend less time on their feet.
Ron,
I guess this is what it takes to merit a Coot picture in your blog! 😉 I echo Everett’s comments. I photograph them because many days they are the only game in town that is close enough. And, as you have pointed out, the numbers of birds in general over the last few years has dwindled leaving the coots and a few others remaining in large enough numbers to find. The predominate black is challenging (also as you have pointed out in this and other predominately black birds). And their feet are just weird … and today, even more so!
I will admit that if the light is right and the background just so, I have a couple of nice (even attractive) Coot Captures (photographically, of course).
Best,
Stephen
Steven, I just looked in my media gallery and counting today I’ve actually posted 79 coot photos to my blog.
Partly because of their pugilistic personalities I think coots can be a blast to photograph.
Is there something wrapped around the coots’ leg? Perhaps fishing line? Poor coot!
Nancy, I mentioned fishing line in my post. I dunno.
A really neat post showing the feet problems this poor coot is enduring. It is always painful to watch any creature in nature suffering something that we would go see a doctor to fix. We have often expressed on your blog the fact that our Coots are probably among our most ignored and disrespected birds. Coots are prey for eagles, harriers, hawks, falcons, etc. I have often come upon a coot being eaten by one of these as well as often coming upon what remains of a coot. Because you have mentioned how we photographers most often ignore these guys and gals I will sometimes take a few shots of them just out of guilt. And in doing this I often realize that they are actually more attractive than I imagine. Thanks for posting.
“I will sometimes take a few shots of them just out of guilt.”
That made me smile, Everett.
Would think at first it was an injury of some sorts BUT! Reddish end of the one toe with no claw looks like it could be painful tho you noted it seemed to be navigating fine. Will be interesting for the more knowledgeable to chime in. 😀 Doing the wind thing here……😖
Judy, my mother used to hate the MT wind even more than most folks do. I remember her chasing clothes down the hill on the farm that had blown off the clothes line more than once. We once had to reseed a new lawn twice because all of the seed and some of the soil blew away.
The only times I EVER heard my mother cuss (mildly) was because of the wind.