Just to clarify. The dead Coot that Jill and I saw at Stewart Park on the shore by the swan pen had no apparent injuries. I went down to take a look at it. It was intact. There was fishing hook, line and sinker, and float all tangled in a bush there, which I removed. The proximity had made me wonder, for no good reason, if this Coot had been tangled and that's why I did this cursory exam.
Just seems a bit odd to have multiple dead Coots. Maybe just a coincidence. Linda Sent from my iPhone On Nov 14, 2010, at 7:48 PM, david nicosia <[email protected]> wrote: > There was a short post on a Great Black-Backed Gull that has a history > of killing coots at Cape May Point from the CMBO website "View from > Cape: Recent Sightings" link... > . > http://cmboviewfromthecape.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2010-11-06T23%3A02%3A00-04%3A00 > > Scroll down to the October 23rd, 2010 entry. We know there are many > GBBGs at Stewart. > Could this be one possibilty??? > > Dave Nicosia > Johnson City, NY > > From: Dave Nutter <[email protected]> > To: [email protected] > Sent: Sun, November 14, 2010 7:35:33 PM > Subject: Re: [cayugabirds-l] Threat to COOTS at Stewart Park? > > On Saturday afternoon between 2 & 2:30 I was at Stewart Park, some > of the time with Ken Rosenberg. > We saw 2 carcases in the water fairly far out. One I'm not sure of > the ID. The second, definitely a Coot, > I didn't notice until a Great Black-backed Gull was working on it > and tipped it up to show the distinctive > lobed toes. I saw no struggle and didn't notice the gull carry it > in, so I'm not sure why I didn't notice the > second carcase at first. Great Black-backed Gulls then took > interest in the first carcase as well. I don't > know what killed either of them, but certainly the Great Black- > backed Gulls and the Bald Eagle are likely > candidates, and the Red-tailed Hawk is another possibility. For > that matter, people bring dogs into Stewart > Park even though it is posted "no dogs." There was a Boxer with > some people by a bench on Saturday, > and it was straining against its leash as if eager to grab whatever > bird it could. I know people take dogs > off leash in Stewart Park early in the morning, which is against the > City's leash law as well as park rules. > So maybe dogs and their scofflaw owners are the culprits. Coots > look like ripe meals to be plucked: > plump slow reluctant fliers. I don't know why nobody's seemed to go > for them there before. Their only > defense so far as I know comes from a story, a recipe actually: > When you've shot a Coot, nail the Coot > to a board for three days, then throw away the Coot and eat the > board. Coots are not reputed to taste > very good. I'm not sure this reputation is deserved or more > deserved than certain other waterfowl. > If anyone has real information about what's killing the coots, I am > also interested. > --Dave Nutter > > On Nov 14, 2010, at 02:48 PM, Jill Vaughan <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Late this morning, at Stewart Park, three of us saw a dead Coot on >> the shore of the Swan Pen. It was intact. The post from Marie >> Reed makes us wonder if there is a threat to the Coot population, >> since the Coot we saw was clearly not the one Marie saw given the >> different times we were there. (We did remove a leaded fishline >> with hook and bobber from a bush by the pen.) > -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
