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coot? duck Identification help question

2K views 16 replies 11 participants last post by  jandh77 
#1 ·
hey, new forum member here. Do any of you know what this bird/waterfowl might be..... its about the size of a goose, it has a long neck, makes weird gargling noises, and there were about 500 of them landing on water and were also landing on tree limbs in some old dead trees in flodded timber. Are these coots? I never got close enough to tell if they had a white beak. The biggest question is can i shoot these things? Location: Im in central alabama, the ducks/birds in question were in a swamp right off the alabama river close to montgomery area, i have also seen these same ducks/ birds on lake oconee in Georgia. Thanks in advance.-
 
#2 ·
hmm, by this description it is hard to tell exactly what they are. was their wingbeat and flight pattern duck like? coots don't tend to like flying long distances or up high for long so if they were just moving around and flying near the water then they could be coots.

coots do not tend to have long necks and are certainly not the size of a coot. they are around the size of a medium duck like a wigeon or a gadwall.
 
#5 ·
cw, their flight pattern was inbetween a duck(mallard) and a goose. Rebelp, when you say mergs, do you mean merganziers? If so, they were def not merganziers, ive shoot plenty merganziers and hooded merganziers- the bird in question is much bigger- its inbetween a mallard and goose.
 
#7 ·
waldo31 said:
cw, their flight pattern was inbetween a duck(mallard) and a goose. Rebelp, when you say mergs, do you mean merganziers? If so, they were def not merganziers, ive shoot plenty merganziers and hooded merganziers- the bird in question is much bigger- its inbetween a mallard and goose.
I was talking about mergansers. Common mergansers are bigger than a mallard. They may be cormorants as the guy said above. Do they fly in pretty strong v formations? If so, probably cormorants. If it is cormorants you can't kill them, they're protected.
 
#17 ·
As has been stated already, they're probably cormorants. I could see why ibises were suggested, but they aren't really bigger than a duck and they don't generally swim. Cormorants swim, land in trees, are in between a duck and a goose, both in size and in wing beat, and have been confused by some (including myself) for a duck or a goose at a distance. This is more than likely what you've been seeing. Check out the pics below. Are these what you've seen? If so, no you cannot shoot them. And as in any hunting situation, if you cannot identify your target and/or you're not sure if it's in season, don't shoot!
 

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