Rails, gallinules & coots
Marsh birds that walk rather than swim, mostly, and are more often heard than seen. Rails are shy and thin, built to slip sideways between reed stems; the gallinules and coots are their bolder cousins, out on the open water and the lily pads.
A gallinule's toes are absurdly long for its size, and that is the point of them: they spread the bird's weight across a lily pad so it can walk over floating vegetation as if it were a lawn. The coot went the other way and grew lobed flaps along each toe, a compromise between a paddle and a foot.
- Eurasian Coot Fulica atra
- Purple Gallinule Porphyrio martinica
Birds, insects, plants and other wildlife, mostly from Brooklyn, with some from further afield.
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