Hi Tweeters,

I was surprised this morning to see at the pond edge, through my scope, two
birds that I didn't recognize at first look. They were quite large [size of
a chicken], gray mostly except for a lighter belly. Their heads appeared to
be very small in comparison to their body, short beaks. They were about 500
M. away so I didn't get great looks. I was stumped at first, but they
walked like they were clumsy. I thought maybe rail and got out my book and
stumbled on the image in Sibley of juvenile coots. That seemed to be what I
had seen. In the past, coots do come to the pond during Winter, but they
are gone in Spring. I note on E-bird that nobody reports any coot
observations since the end of May this year in Thurston County. This pond
is near a nature preserve wetland area so it's possible these birds were
recent fledglings from a nest there. Where do coots usually nest? Does
this seem likely that my identification is correct? Thanks.

Bert Bartleson, Olympia

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