Re the "rarity" of the American Coot: treasure your coots while you've got
'em!

They were complaining on the So. Dorchester (MD) CBC (Blackwater Nat'l
Wildlife Refuge) of how coot numbers were down in recent years, and I've
seen *very* few on this coast in the last month.

Jim McCoy
Marblehead, MA by way of Bellevue, WA
jfmccoy at hotmail.com