Photo Fiona Sunquist ©

In Florida, wintering American Coots forage in large, tightly knit groups known as ‘rafts’. Each group – or raft – may contain several hundred birds, and all individuals stay close together as they move and feed, diving for underwater vegetation.

By April and May, many of these coots will head north to breed, but until then you can see spectacular flocks of these birds in the shallow water impoundments of Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge and at St Marks National Wildlife Refuge.

Click here for more information about the American Coot.

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