Eurasian Coot

[Bear Dale]

The very common Eurasian Coot

Scientific name: Fulica atra

[Peter Connan]

Beautiful!

May I post his African cousin here?

[Bear Dale]

Beautiful!

May I post his African cousin here?

Yes absolutely Peter please do, I'd love to see it

[Erik Lund]

Nice and crisp, the eye really stands out 

[Peter Connan]

Thanks Bear

Here it is, the Red-knobbed Coot, Fulica cristata

[Bear Dale]

Nice and crisp, the eye really stands out 

Thank you Erik.

[Bear Dale]

Thanks Bear

Here it is, the Red-knobbed Coot, Fulica cristata

Peter, thank you for posting up this Coot. Isn't it amazing how similar they are, but look at the red knob! Very much liked seeing this bird.

[Akira]

What an interesting comparison of the different birds of the same species(?).

This reassures the forte of the international forum!

Thank you, Bear and Peter!

[Bear Dale]

Thanks Akira.

[Peter Connan]

Thanks Bear and Akira

I take part in an annual quest on another international forum, the object of which is to see how many species of birds one can photograph in a year.

It is quite fascinating how there are very similar birds on many continents. It has also been an eye-opener with regard to bird migration habits.

[Bear Dale]

Thanks Bear and Akira

I take part in an annual quest on another international forum, the object of which is to see how many species of birds one can photograph in a year.

It is quite fascinating how there are very similar birds on many continents. It has also been an eye-opener with regard to bird migration habits.

Peter what number have you been able to get in a year?

[Peter Connan]

Bear, I am not particularly good at it, and also I don't have the budget to travel outside of Southern Africa, and even then not much more than a couple of weeks per year.

My best year so far has been last year, when I got 261 birds, plus another 9 that were of too poor quality for me to want to post (although take note that this forum is not a photographically-orientated one, and some of the other competitors post horrendous photos).

Some of the other competitors regularly get over 600 birds a year!

[Bear Dale]

Wow, your species count taken in a year is terrific, those other cricket scores of 600+ are staggering!

[Peter Connan]

Thanks Bear

Considering that there are roughly 1000 species of bird found in South Africa (the country I live in) and probably another couple of hundred in the countries directly neighboring SA (Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique), I don't think that is a terribly impressive total.

Typically the people who score 600+ work hard at it, and visit at least three continents per year (most of them reside in Europe, and visit Africa and often Central/South America).