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Grebes also have very cool feet as seen in this Horned Grebe diving/swimming underwater.View attachment 213888
Impressive (educational)! I have no idea what the two bubbles behind of the bird are but it could be just part of their technique to dive fast - less gazes in the body = higher specific weight?! And concerning the feet - look at the feet of the Hawaiian Coot: designed for swim and to "walk on top of the water" (grabbing actually the alga/plants underneath for support).
First photo is of the typical (and much more common) White-shielded form, after that a more rare Red-shielded and finally something in between (+ partially leucystic!!!). Sorry for the last photo, I didn't aim the AF at the mid-body but because of the mistake, the feet are better visible!
Oh! I don't know what edition of DXO I have used but they are taken in different times! Here I just downgraded the JPEG files from my collection (lazy to dig for the NEF files).


DSC_7342_DxO_DxO.jpgDSC_8386_DxO_DxO.jpgFulica alai - Hawaiian Coot 11 Morph_DxO.jpg
 
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Impressive (educational)! I have no idea what the two bubbles behind of the bird are but it could be just part of their technique to dive fast - less gazes in the body = higher specific weight?! And concerning the feet - look at the feet of the Hawaiian Coot: designed for swim and to "walk on top of the water" (grabbing actually the alga/plants underneath for support).
First photo is of the typical (and much more common) White-shielded form, after that a more rare Red-shielded and finally something in between (+ partially leucystic!!!). Sorry for the last photo, I didn't aim the AF at the mid-body but because of the mistake, the feet are better visible!
Oh! I don't know what edition of DXO I have used but they are taken in different times! Here I just downgraded the JPEG files from my collection (lazy to dig for the NEF files).


View attachment 213954View attachment 213955View attachment 213956

Great shots!
Coots are cool too.
When I retired ten years ago, I assigned myself a research project. I spent three years documenting via eBird the birds along a 1-mile section of our local arroyo. I saw and photographed lots of interesting behaviors. Coots get extremely aggressive during mating season as seen in the following sequence.
1) Coot in aggressive head down "I'm coming to get you pose".
2) Victim "runs" & flies away.
3-6) Victim refuses to run and slap fight ensues.

American Coot chase 7D2_19569.jpgAmerican Coot chase 7D2_19573.jpgAmerican  Coot fight C7D_64985.jpgAmerican Coot fight C7D_64974.jpgAmerican Coot fight C7D_65008.jpgAmerican Coot Fight C7D_65058.jpg
 
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I have never been accused of being normal, but the pic posted is the coot diving under water.View attachment 213965View attachment 213966View attachment 213967
I have never seen coot diving in the sense of "diving". What I have seen is coots taking algae from shallow water with the head underwater.

You posted the action in opposite way: first photo is #9963 and the last two are same #9949 (probably edited slightly different). What I see is what I have always seen with the local coots: deep the head underwater and grab some algae, eat above the water!
If you have seen them really diving it will be very interesting for me - just something new!
 
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I have never seen coot diving in the sense of "diving". What I have seen is coots taking algae from shallow water with the head underwater.


You posted the action in opposite way: first photo is #9963 and the last two are same #9949 (probably edited slightly different). What I see is what I have always seen with the local coots: deep the head underwater and grab some algae, eat above the water!
If you have seen them really diving it will be very interesting for me - just something new!
Correct dive is not correct. This is at the local boat ramp and he was eating aglae and doing coot thins
 
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