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Bird

American Coot

Fulica americana

A winter visitor to Arkansas, found in all 75 counties and 6 habitats.

Here
Winter
Nesting
Not known to nest here
Range
All 75 counties
Habitats
6

At a glance

Group
Birds
Here
Winter
Nesting
Not known to nest here
Range
All 75 counties
Habitats
6
Habitat models
Summer, Winter

Where it lives

The places its habitat model includes. It is not found everywhere a habitat occurs.

Habitats in Arkansas 6

Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.

1 of 6

Swamps

The Land of Evangeline
SummerWinterCentral Interior and Appalachian Swamp Systems; Mississippi River Bottomland DepressionJoseph Rusling Meeker, The Land of Evangeline (1874): moss-hung trees over a still bayou in Louisiana swamp forest. Regional view: the painting does not name the exact site. Shown: Louisiana bayou country (Meeker, The Land of Evangeline, 1874), a neighboring state.The Land of Evangeline, Joseph Rusling Meeker, 1874. Public domain. Source record.

Floodplain and bottomland forests

Forests on low ground beside rivers and streams that flood from time to time.

SummerWinterSouth-Central Interior Large Floodplain - Forest Modifier; Central Interior and Appalachian Riparian Systems; Mississippi River Low Floodplain (Bottomland) Forest; South-Central Interior Small Stream and Riparian; Mississippi River Floodplain and Riparian Forest

Ponds, lakes and their shores

Still water and its edges: ponds, lakes, millponds and reservoirs.

SummerWinterOpen Water (Fresh)

Disturbed and introduced wetlands

Wet ground taken over by weedy or introduced plants after disturbance, such as common reed, Chinese tallow or tamarisk stands; the upland counterpart is roadsides, fields and disturbed ground.

SummerWinterBeside its main habitat.

Hardwood and oak flatwoods

Flat, poorly drained uplands and terraces with oaks, sweetgum and sometimes loblolly pine, wet in winter and dry in summer, but neither a floodplain nor a swamp.

SummerWinterOnly within 250 m of water.Lower Mississippi River Flatwoods

Streams, rivers and their banks

Flowing water and its banks, bars and rocky shoals.

SummerWinterBeside its main habitat.Central Interior and Appalachian Riparian Systems; South-Central Interior Small Stream and Riparian
Other habitats in its models (45)

Land cover, or classes with no habitat page in Arkansas. Those recorded in Arkansas first, the rest by region.

Elsewhere in the South (30)
  • Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain Interdunal Wetland Summer and winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Brownwater Stream Floodplain Forest Summer and winter, beside its main habitat.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh Winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Freshwater Marsh Summer and winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Salt and Brackish Marsh Winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Indian River Lagoon Tidal Marsh Winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Peatland Pocosin Summer and winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Small Blackwater River Floodplain Forest Summer and winter, beside its main habitat.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Small Brownwater River Floodplain Forest Summer and winter, beside its main habitat.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Tidal Wooded Swamp Winter.
  • Central Florida Herbaceous Pondshore Summer and winter.
  • Central Florida Herbaceous Seep Summer and winter.
  • East Gulf Coastal Plain Small Stream and River Floodplain Forest Summer and winter, beside its main habitat.
  • East Gulf Coastal Plain Tidal Wooded Swamp Winter.
  • Florida Big Bend Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Summer and winter.
  • Florida Big Bend Salt-Brackish Tidal Marsh Winter.
  • Floridian Highlands Freshwater Marsh Summer and winter.
  • Mississippi Sound Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh Winter.
  • South Florida Bayhead Swamp Summer and winter.
  • South Florida Dwarf Cypress Savanna Summer and winter.
  • South Florida Everglades Sawgrass Marsh Summer and winter.
  • South Florida Freshwater Slough and Gator Hole Summer and winter.
  • South Florida Mangrove Swamp Winter.
  • South Florida Wet Marl Prairie Summer and winter.
  • Southern Coastal Plain Blackwater River Floodplain Forest Summer and winter, beside its main habitat.
  • Southern Coastal Plain Herbaceous Seepage Bog Summer and winter.
  • Southern Coastal Plain Hydric Hammock Summer and winter.
  • Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp Summer and winter.
  • Southern Coastal Plain Seepage Swamp and Baygall Summer and winter.
Land cover and other classes (15)
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Blackwater Stream Floodplain Forest - Forest Modifier Summer and winter, beside its main habitat.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Clay-Based Carolina Bay Herbaceous Wetland Summer and winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Nonriverine Swamp and Wet Hardwood Forest - Oak Dominated Modifier Summer and winter, beside its main habitat.
  • Central Appalachian Riparian - Forest Modifier Summer and winter, beside its main habitat.
  • East Gulf Coastal Plain Large River Floodplain Forest - Herbaceous Modifier Winter, beside its main habitat.
  • East Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Depression Pondshore Summer and winter.
  • Gulf and Atlantic Coastal Plain Swamp Systems Winter.
  • Gulf and Atlantic Coastal Plain Tidal Marsh Systems Winter.
  • Open Water (Brackish/Salt) Winter.
  • Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Bay/Gum Modifier Summer and winter, beside its main habitat.
  • Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Pine Modifier Summer and winter.
  • Southern Piedmont/Ridge and Valley Upland Depression Swamp Summer and winter.
  • Unconsolidated Shore Summer and winter.
  • Unconsolidated Shore (Beach/Dune) Summer and winter.
  • Unconsolidated Shore (Lake/River/Pond) Summer and winter.

All habitats

Seasons in Arkansas

  • Winter: does not nest here, in all 75 counties.

Food plants

Diet records by plant genus, from studies across North America. Not a record from this state. Plants matched by genus.

Native plants in these genera 291

Plant genera in its diet records (30)
  • Lemna Seeds. 12 diet records. 7 native plants in Arkansas
  • Potamogeton Seeds. 10 diet records. 10 native plants in Arkansas
  • Myriophyllum Seeds. 9 diet records. 2 native plants in Arkansas
  • Scirpus Seeds. 9 diet records. 6 native plants in Arkansas
  • Carex Seeds. 6 diet records. 144 native plants in Arkansas
  • Cladophora 6 diet records. 0 native plants in Arkansas
  • Ruppia Leaves and seeds. 6 diet records. 0 native plants in Arkansas
  • Ceratophyllum Seeds and leaves. 5 diet records. 2 native plants in Arkansas
  • Chara Leaves. 5 diet records. 0 native plants in Arkansas
  • Leptochloa Seeds and leaves. 4 diet records. 3 native plants in Arkansas
  • Eleocharis Seeds. 3 diet records. 21 native plants in Arkansas
  • Acorus Seeds. 2 diet records. 0 native plants in Arkansas
  • Bidens Seeds. 2 diet records. 7 native plants in Arkansas
  • Bolboschoenus Seeds. 2 diet records. 1 native plant in Arkansas
  • Cuscuta Seeds. 2 diet records. 9 native plants in Arkansas
  • Galium Seeds. 2 diet records. 13 native plants in Arkansas
  • Morella Seeds. 2 diet records. 2 native plants in Arkansas
  • Nitella Other parts. 2 diet records. 0 native plants in Arkansas
  • Persicaria Seeds. 2 diet records. 11 native plants in Arkansas
  • Salicornia Seeds. 2 diet records. 0 native plants in Arkansas
  • Sesuvium Seeds. 2 diet records. 0 native plants in Arkansas
  • Sparganium Seeds. 2 diet records. 2 native plants in Arkansas
  • Typha 2 diet records. 2 native plants in Arkansas
  • Eichhornia 1 diet record. 0 native plants in Arkansas
  • Hydrilla 1 diet record. 0 native plants in Arkansas
  • Ludwigia 1 diet record. 10 native plants in Arkansas
  • Panicum 1 diet record. 12 native plants in Arkansas
  • Polygonum Seeds. 1 diet record. 5 native plants in Arkansas
  • Ranunculus 1 diet record. 14 native plants in Arkansas
  • Sagittaria Seeds. 1 diet record. 8 native plants in Arkansas

Avian Diet Database (Hurlbert Lab), CC0 1.0.

Also found in its main habitats

Its main habitats in Arkansas, by how much of its habitat model each one is, with the birds most characteristic of each and the plants that grow wild there. Shared habitat, not food.

Floodplain and bottomland forests

Birds 97

Plants 313

All of floodplain and bottomland forests in Arkansas

Swamps

Birds 79

Plants 223

All of swamps in Arkansas

Hardwood and oak flatwoods

Birds 45

Plants 15

All of hardwood and oak flatwoods in Arkansas

USGS Gap Analysis Project habitat models.

Sources