The Prairie Exotic - American Coot
p.1 #1The Prairie Exotic - American Coot
Continuing my intro to the forum here. I shoot primarily with the Nikon Z8 and Z 800mm f6.3 but I also use my Z6III and the 180-600 or the 400mm f4.5 with or without TC's. Most of what I do is close to home and I decided to focus on the common birds around here. I am more into waterfowl so waders, ducks, and grebes that live in our prairie potholes. My first post highlighted our actual local exotic, the White-faced Ibis. This one covers our local mainstay, the American Coot. I think most photographers ignore them or struggle to showcase them well so I have been trying to do so, and have very much enjoyed watching their antics while waiting for other birds to come in.
1.
800mm | f/6.3 | 1/2500s | ISO 1100
2.
800mm | f/8 | 1/2500s | ISO 900
3.
800mm | f/6.3 | 1/2500s | ISO 1100
4.
800mm | f/8 | 1/2500s | ISO 3200
5.
800mm | f/8 | 1/2500s | ISO 1000
6.
800mm | f/6.3 | 1/1600s | ISO 900
7.
800mm | f/6.3 | 1/250s | ISO 500
1.
800mm | f/6.3 | 1/2500s | ISO 1100
2.
800mm | f/8 | 1/2500s | ISO 900
3.
800mm | f/6.3 | 1/2500s | ISO 1100
4.
800mm | f/8 | 1/2500s | ISO 3200
5.
800mm | f/8 | 1/2500s | ISO 1000
6.
800mm | f/6.3 | 1/1600s | ISO 900
7.
800mm | f/6.3 | 1/250s | ISO 500
Jun 18, 2026 at 04:00 PM
p.1 #2The Prairie Exotic - American Coot
All very nice. Tough to choose a favorite. I'll go with #4. Very nice work !
John
John
Jun 19, 2026 at 07:24 AM
p.1 #3The Prairie Exotic - American Coot
Well done, nice eye level photographs. All are good, my top pick is #4.
Sreedhar
Sreedhar
Jun 19, 2026 at 07:30 AM
p.1 #4The Prairie Exotic - American Coot
Excellent work Dalin. They are tricky to expose and you got these just right. I just realized I have not seen any coots in a while.
Morris
Morris
Jun 19, 2026 at 08:33 AM
p.1 #5The Prairie Exotic - American Coot
johnohio wrote:
All very nice. Tough to choose a favorite. I'll go with #4. Very nice work !
John
Thanks John! Yeah 4 is hard to beat. Those feet are something else
The colours and the bubbles too.
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guywithgas wrote:
Well done, nice eye level photographs. All are good, my top pick is #4.
Sreedhar
Thanks Sreedhar! I fell in love with the low angle perspective when I started learning all this so I really love how they look. Yeah #4 has a lot going for it.
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morris wrote:
Excellent work Dalin. They are tricky to expose and you got these just right. I just realized I have not seen any coots in a while.
Morris
Thanks Morris! They're basically a black football, but with the right light and being careful not to blow out that white bill, I actually quite like them. Their feathers have a very interesting structure to them that adds amazing texture in extreme closeups. Plus I like that they are the first birds to move back in close to me if there was a disruption, signalling to all the rest of the birds that it's safe to return.
All very nice. Tough to choose a favorite. I'll go with #4. Very nice work !
John
Thanks John! Yeah 4 is hard to beat. Those feet are something else
The colours and the bubbles too.---------------------------------------------
guywithgas wrote:
Well done, nice eye level photographs. All are good, my top pick is #4.
Sreedhar
Thanks Sreedhar! I fell in love with the low angle perspective when I started learning all this so I really love how they look. Yeah #4 has a lot going for it.
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morris wrote:
Excellent work Dalin. They are tricky to expose and you got these just right. I just realized I have not seen any coots in a while.
Morris
Thanks Morris! They're basically a black football, but with the right light and being careful not to blow out that white bill, I actually quite like them. Their feathers have a very interesting structure to them that adds amazing texture in extreme closeups. Plus I like that they are the first birds to move back in close to me if there was a disruption, signalling to all the rest of the birds that it's safe to return.
Jun 19, 2026 at 09:27 AM
p.1 #6The Prairie Exotic - American Coot
Nice to see someone give the poor 'ol Coot some love. These are very well done!
Jun 19, 2026 at 06:00 PM
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p.1 #7The Prairie Exotic - American Coot
Al Trujillo wrote:
Nice to see someone give the poor 'ol Coot some love. These are very well done!
Thank you Al. They give me more chances than any other bird, so I figured they deserved some attention
Nice to see someone give the poor 'ol Coot some love. These are very well done!
Thank you Al. They give me more chances than any other bird, so I figured they deserved some attention
Jun 20, 2026 at 04:54 PM
p.1 #8The Prairie Exotic - American Coot
Beautiful images of a beautiful bird.
Dave
Dave
Jun 20, 2026 at 05:20 PM
p.1 #9The Prairie Exotic - American Coot
dclark wrote:
Beautiful images of a beautiful bird.
Dave
Thanks Dave, appreciate it.
Beautiful images of a beautiful bird.
Dave
Thanks Dave, appreciate it.
Jun 20, 2026 at 07:23 PM
p.1 #10The Prairie Exotic - American Coot
great set of pics. i also like the american coot. you do a much better job of editing the pictures than i do. i have a hard time balancing the black head with the more grayish black body and the ivory beak i also have problems with. to me, the combination of beady red eyes, black head and white beak produces almost a sinister appearance when looking at you as in picture 5. the low angle really adds to the beauty of the pictures. thanks for sharing.
Jun 21, 2026 at 04:23 PM
p.1 #11The Prairie Exotic - American Coot
volhoosier wrote:
great set of pics. i also like the american coot. you do a much better job of editing the pictures than i do. i have a hard time balancing the black head with the more grayish black body and the ivory beak i also have problems with. to me, the combination of beady red eyes, black head and white beak produces almost a sinister appearance when looking at you as in picture 5. the low angle really adds to the beauty of the pictures. thanks for sharing.
Thanks for that feedback. They are definitely a challenge and I think taking the photo in the right conditions is the most important. These are all taken in softer light, usually later evening after the light intensity drops a little. Otherwise, as you noted that white bill will be overly bright. The black feathers are in reality deep grey, not black, so I lean into that and pull the exposure and shadows up gently until they reach a level of grey that keeps definition and shape. The head feathers are the toughest because they do fall to deep black. There I mask the darkest areas and lift them just enough to show some texture and stop. Restraint is key. Not enough and they are black blobs, too much and the greys easily get a washed out, over processed look. The eyes are my favourite as they add so much character so I just lean into those red eyes and let them pop, even if like #5 it shifts to a more sinister look. I like it Definitely has taken a good amount of practice getting them to look right and I have far more throw away attempts than successes. Thankfully, around here, these birds so common and accessible I get to practice on them a lot while waiting for other species.
great set of pics. i also like the american coot. you do a much better job of editing the pictures than i do. i have a hard time balancing the black head with the more grayish black body and the ivory beak i also have problems with. to me, the combination of beady red eyes, black head and white beak produces almost a sinister appearance when looking at you as in picture 5. the low angle really adds to the beauty of the pictures. thanks for sharing.
Thanks for that feedback. They are definitely a challenge and I think taking the photo in the right conditions is the most important. These are all taken in softer light, usually later evening after the light intensity drops a little. Otherwise, as you noted that white bill will be overly bright. The black feathers are in reality deep grey, not black, so I lean into that and pull the exposure and shadows up gently until they reach a level of grey that keeps definition and shape. The head feathers are the toughest because they do fall to deep black. There I mask the darkest areas and lift them just enough to show some texture and stop. Restraint is key. Not enough and they are black blobs, too much and the greys easily get a washed out, over processed look. The eyes are my favourite as they add so much character so I just lean into those red eyes and let them pop, even if like #5 it shifts to a more sinister look. I like it
Definitely has taken a good amount of practice getting them to look right and I have far more throw away attempts than successes. Thankfully, around here, these birds so common and accessible I get to practice on them a lot while waiting for other species.Jun 22, 2026 at 09:40 AM
p.1 #12The Prairie Exotic - American Coot
The color on the eyes are one of the most beautiful color of red I've ever seen.
Jun 23, 2026 at 12:22 PM