More bird ID help please

[Newt]

Another coastal Florida bird that has me stumped. I thought it was a rail of some sort but I can't find a match. The area is all salt water and mangrove covered sand.

 

 

[ayjay]

Looks very much like our Turnstone Newt.

 

My world wader book is out in the car, I'll nip and get it soon.

[ayjay]

Looks very much like our Turnstone Newt.

 

My world wader book is out in the car, I'll nip and get it soon.

Ruddy Turnstone is the same in the USA as it is here, Arenaria interpres.

 

Edit: in winter plumage in your pics.

Edited March 2, 2013 by ayjay

[Newt]

Thanks. I would probably never have found that one either. These may all have been young birds since they didn't look to be anywhere near 22cm long.

 

I'm trying to get a trip report ready for our recent stay in south Florida and while I think I'm OK with most of the fish we caught, there are quite a few birds I can't name but would like to when I post the report. Can you (any "you") help with these fine fellows? I think the ones with white beaks are the same as those with orange beaks - at least they were very close to each other.

 

 

 

[Old geezer]

Don't know, but they look like moorhens to me.......

[Manxman]

Coots, Newt.

[Phone]

Newt,

 

Manx has it right I think. Did they dive and come up elsewhere?

 

Phone

[Newt]

Phone - they really didn't. None of the dive, vanish, surface someplace else I'm used to seeing with American coots but they are about the only bird except for GrebsI know of that look like a duck who is missing the usual webbed feet.

 

Manx, I think you nailed it. The colour mix with my camera must have been off since the legs don't show as green but otherwise that is exactly what they look like.

[Alan Stubbs]

Theyr'e certainly members of the gallinule family, but they haven't got the white cere above the bill I'd associate with either European or American coots.

[Tony U]

Defo an American Coot:

The American Coot measures 34–43 cm (13–17 in) in length and 58–71 cm (23–28 in) across the wings. Adults have a short thick white bill and white frontal shield, which usually has a reddish-brown spot near the top of the bill between the eyes. Males and females look alike, but females are smaller. Body mass in females ranges from 427 to 628 g (0.94 to 1.38 lb) and in males from 576 to 848 g (1.27 to 1.87 lb), Juvenile birds have olive-brown crowns and a gray body. They become adult-colored around 4 months of age.