I thought that was a joke (rarity of Coots). They are all over Lake Stevens
and other lakes that I see.



Deb of Ray & Deb Fame

Robe Valley in Washington

42psalm01 at foxinternet.com



http://members5.boardhost.com/Koinonia/index.html

-------Original Message-------



From: Rolan Nelson

Date: 01/09/06 08:56:18

To: Joemeche at aol.com

Cc: tweeters at u.washington.edu

Subject: Re: [Tweeters] Birds of the week: American Bittern and American
Coot



Joe mentions the rarity of Coots in these parts. Sad but true, but the
American Coot captive breeding and release program is starting to bear fruit
I understand their numbers are growing!



-Rolan



Joemeche at aol.com wrote:

American Bittern

My all-time favorite encounter took place when I was so preoccupied with
another bird that I was 'ambushed' by a bittern. I was sitting on the ground
underneath my tripod, photo'ing a Marsh Wren at the nest when I noticed a
rustling in the cattails at 3 o'clock. I turned my head slowly to see what
it might be and there came a bittern--straight at me! I sat as stil! l as I
could and the bittern walked right up to me and changed its course just
enough to walk behind me--not 6 feet away--and continued on its way. This
experience proved the benefits of my grandfather's old exercise of sitting
still and seeing what finds YOU!

American Coot

Who couldn't love these goofy birds? Best coot viewing is when they have a
raft of young ones in tow. You don't see many coot sightings reported on
Tweeters....too bad they're so rare.



Cheers,

Joe Meche

Bellingham









Rolan Nelson

Fircrest, WA

rnbuffle at yahoo.com





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