Tweets,

My most memorable American Coot sighting took place a few years ago during
the Bellingham CBC with Tricia Otto and Lynne Givler. We had just finished
counting ducks at Wiser Lake in a driving rain and were drying off and had
settled in at the parking lot to eat our sandwiches. On the other side of
the parking lot fence were a number of coots resting in a grassy area. In
an instant all the coots were gone, save one. Through the blurred
windshield we saw the one remaining coot, immobile on the on the grass.
Nearby was a large gray bird. After cleaning the windscreen we were
surprised, very pleased and not a little astonished to see a Gyrfalcon.
The falcon hopped to the coot, pecked at it, and then moved a few feet
way. It repeated this behavior a couple of times over the next few
minutes. After about ten minutes the falcon flew off, whereupon the coot,
in one motion, opened one eye, looked around, and got to its feet and
dashed into the water.

Mike Waller
Normandy Park
mawaller at gmail.com