Ode To a Coot

North Park is roughly 100 miles from where I live in Fort Collins, Colorado, and getting there is usually a pleasure. That stretch of Highway 14 has been designated a Scenic Byway, running up through the Cache la Poudre Canyon, across 10,276 foot Cameron Pass, and dropping down into North Park to about 8,200 feet elevation. North Park is a huge, open bowl, surrounded by snow-capped mountain ranges: the Never Summer Range to the southeast, the Medicine Bow Range to the east and north-east, Rabbit Ears Mountains to the south, and the Park range to the west. Many small streams flow through North Park and they converge to form the headwaters of the North Platte River.

The little town of Walden, with a population of about 950, is the County Seat of Jackson County and a center of activities for North Park residents. Just south of Walden is Arapaho National Wildlife Refuge, where I have spent many peaceful hours watching and photographing birds and other wildlife. Arapaho was established in 1967 to make up for the loss of wetland habitat on the eastern prairies due to draining and filling for farming, roads, and housing developments. It is at the second highest elevation of any Refuge in the United States (Denali in Alaska is higher).

On the Refuge, water is diverted from the Illinois River into irrigation ditches that fill a series of shallow ponds for waterfowl breeding areas. A dirt road curves around among the ponds, allowing good views where you can stop and observe from the vehicle. Water and shore birds usually move away when you do. My spotting scope on a window mount really helps here, but if you are patient and wait a little while until the birds get used to your car, they will come back closer. I like to spend a few days in that area in June, when many ducks, geese, and other birds are nesting and raising young.

One of the most common water birds that is not a duck, is the American Coot (Fulica americana). This charcoal gray bird with a white beak and red eyes, looks like a duck, swims like a duck, but doesn't quack like a duck. It has a smaller head, that it pumps back and forth when it swims, like a wind-up toy. Coots have lobed feet to propel them through the water, and they feed by diving in the water, or dabbling on the top. Sometimes, they act like shore birds and graze along the edge of the water. They do fly, but to take off from the water, they must "run" for a little distance on the water while they flap their wings. One day, I decided to drive in along Walden Lake, right at the edge of town. The water near the shore was dotted with lovely pink blossoms of Water Buckwheat (Polygonum amphibium). Floating among the flowers was a very contented looking coot. It was such a lovely scene, that I took some photos and later wrote a poetic caption.

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