Overview
The Red-gartered Coot (Fulica armillata) is a large, charismatic waterbird native to the wetlands, marshes, and lakes of the Southern Cone of South America. The largest and most abundant coot across Patagonia, Argentina, and Chile, it derives its common and scientific names from the prominent ruby-red ‘garters’ encircling the upper joints of its yellow-green legs.
Biology and Physical Characteristics
The Red-gartered Coot has a slate-grey to sooty-black body with a darker black head and neck. Its heavy bill and elongated frontal shield are bright lemon-yellow, highlighted by a diagnostic blood-red patch at the base of the culmen that separates the shield from the bill. Its powerful greenish-yellow legs are encircled near the feathered thigh by a vibrant scarlet-red band (the garter), ending in long, lobed swimming toes.
Behavior and Ecology
A strong swimmer and accomplished diver, the Red-gartered Coot dives beneath the water surface to pull up mouthfuls of submerged waterweeds. It is gregarious, forming massive flocks of hundreds or thousands of birds on large lakes during the austral winter. In breeding season, pairs build bulky floating platform nests anchored in emergent reeds (totora) along lake margins.
Conservation and Human Impact
Assessed as Least Concern by the IUCN, the Red-gartered Coot is extremely abundant and secure throughout southern South America, with a stable population numbering in the hundreds of thousands across protected wetlands in Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay.
Interesting Factoid
The Red-gartered Coot looks like it’s wearing bright red athletic socks: its greenish-yellow legs are encircled by vivid ruby-red rings just below its feathered thighs, matching the red accent on its yellow forehead shield.