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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/american-coot-2307-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"american-coot-2307-ron-dudley\\"")
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1\/2000, f\/6.3, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n Thirteen days ago I was photographing other birds on the pond when I heard a commotion right in front of me. One coot had hopped onto the back of another piggyback style which had the apparently intended effect of terrorizing the other bird. The aggressor made no attempt to bite or otherwise\u00a0harm the\u00a0second bird, instead it just\u00a0seemed to stare intently and closely at the screaming victim during the ride and dare it to respond\u00a0defensively or aggressively.<\/p>\n I was so surprised by this unexpected development close to me that I had difficulty tracking them in the water as they moved to my left so many of my shots were soft or I cut off large parts of the birds.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2000, f\/6.3, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n But this one, even though I cut off the bill of one of the coots, shows the continuing calm nature of the intimidating coot and the\u00a0terrified reaction of\u00a0its victim. After this shot was taken the bird providing the ride eventually swam out from under its hitchhiker.<\/p>\n Assigning motivations in situations like this is of course difficult and fraught with error. When coots fight the brouhaha is typically furiously frenetic\u00a0but these two never did join in battle. This species does a lot of threatening and intimidating too and I’m convinced that’s what was going on here although the form it took was a new one for me. I’d never seen this type of piggyback intimidation in coots before (assuming that’s what it was).<\/p>\n Some may wonder if this was an attempt at mating but I’m confident it wasn’t. Typically American Coots don’t mate until late spring and\u00a0I didn’t see (or photograph) any behavior that even suggested one bird was trying to mate with the other (except for the piggyback position of the one coot). Cornell’s Birds of North America Online has this to say on the subject: “No reports of courting or pair formation on wintering grounds”.<\/p>\n Bird behaviors are endlessly fascinating. And often mysterious.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The apparent intent of this thug was to intimidate and terrorize the other coot. It worked.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/american-coot-2310-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"american-coot-2310-ron-dudley\\"")
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