Alan, I'm glad to hear that coots actually have a brain in those little heads! I once saw an eagle fly over a big (>100) spread-out flock of coots on Lake Washington and had them all amazingly rapidly assemble into a single long line. Not sure what the strategy was there, but it was obvious and interesting.

Dennis


> On Dec 23, 2024, at 1:28 PM, pan via Tweeters <tweeters at u.washington.edu> wrote:

>

> Tweets,

>

> I, too, have seen eagles hunting coots and other diving birds on Lake Washington. A few times, though, I've seen the prey outfox the eagles at Magnuson Park. When an eagle was working a coot flock, the coots would move under the swim/dive dock on short supports off shore, and mill in the middle until the eagle gave up and danger passed.

>

> Alan Grenon

> Seattle

>

> panmail AT mailfence period com

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