Invisible Borders

As I was passing the Lakes where I watched the Grebes a few days ago, thought I would check on them once again to see if they were indulging in any more courtship display, unfortunately not, the Grebes appeared to be taking an early morning 'siesta'

Great Crested Grebes

The two Kingfishers made a short fly by in the direction of the storm drain, with not much else happening on the Grebe front I spent some time watching the Coots

Eurasian Coot

The Coots have spent the winter months in relative harmony, tolerating each other's company, quite strange sometimes when you come across these large 'rafts', I remember seeing such a sight at Capel Fleet a few years ago, must have been at least two hundred Coot on that stretch of water, all together in quite a tight grouping.

It's now February, spring is almost upon us, it seems that a switch has been activated, the Coots  return to their normal pugnacious behaviour, it's all about territory really, something which the Coots take very seriously.

The Coots adopt various postures when they feel their territory is being threatened, "swanning or wing arching" used as either a paired display or to warn off intruders other than Coots.

When a Coot notices a rival near its territory it moves into a "patrol" posture, head lowered, it moves towards its rival, this  posture  is usually noticed by other Coots at some distance away and they take avoiding action, if not, then the Coot accelerates into a " charging" posture head lowered and thrust forward, a noticeable wake behind the bird as it accelerates towards its rival.

The Coots can be seen 'swanning' in this photo with a Coot moving quickly towards them in a 'patrol posture.

 This then moves to the next posture known as "Splattering" as the Coot runs across the water towards its rival.

This usually results in the intruder splattering away to a safer stretch of water.

Occasionally a confrontation is inevitable,  the Coots massive lobed feet are used as the weapon of choice, a closer look at the Coots feet reveal tiny claws at the end of each lobed toe, making them look even more menacing.

Tranquility soon returns