Coot

Listen to example recordings of the main vocalisations of Coot, provided by xeno-canto contributors.

This species can be found on the following statutory and conservation listings and schedules.

UK Birds of Conservation Concern	Green listed
Species of European Conservation Concern	Near Threatened
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (global)	Least Concern
Schedule 1 license required (to disturb)	No
Birds Directive Annex 1	No
Listed on the Annexes of	WCA(II,III), WBD(II*,III*), Bonn(II*), AEWA

CBC/BBS trends for Coot indicate a long-term increase, although the magnitude of the change is not clear and WBS/WBBS trends show a stable long-term trend. Small CBC samples, mainly of birds on small water-bodies, suggested a rapid rise in the late 1960s. WBS/WBBS and BBS include more birds on larger waters, and so may be more representative of Coot populations, but WBS/WBBS has not recorded the rapid long-term increase suggested by the CBC/BBS figures. Both trends show a more recent decline, with the five- and ten-year trends being downward in all indices, and the WBS/WBBS trend shows a moderate decline over the last 25 years. There has been an increase across Europe since 1980, although this trend should be treated with caution as the data from early years are based on limited coverage (PECBMS: PECBMS 2020a>). Winter abundance on large still waters showed shallow increase from the mid 1980s to around 2000/01 but has since declined in all four UK countries (WeBS: Frost et al. 2020).

UK breeding population	+83% increase (1967–2022)
UK winter population	-26% decrease (1996/97–2021/22)

Coots occur throughout most of England, Wales and Ireland, only becoming patchily distributed in upland regions. In Scotland they are highly localised outside the central belt.

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Occupied 10-km squares in UK

No. occupied in breeding season	1717
% occupied in breeding season	57
No. occupied in winter	1762
% occupied in winter	58

European Distribution Map

European Breeding Bird Atlas 2

Breeding Season Habitats

Most frequent in	Lakes
Also common in	Ponds

Coots have disppeared as a breeding species from one third of their former Irish range, possibly as a consequence of drainage of wetlands since the 1970s. The range contraction in Britain is less severe and losses in the upland margins of Scotland and Wales are almost balanced by gains elsewhere in England.

Coots are widely reported and present year-round.

View a summary of recoveries in the Online Ringing Report.

Foreign locations of birds ringed or recovered in Britain & Ireland

View number ringed each year in the Online Ringing Report

Maximum Age from Ringing	15 years 3 months 13 days (set in 1978)
Typical Lifespan	5 years with breeding typically at 2 year
Adult Survival	0.701±0.026
Juvenile Survival	0.38 (in first year)

Wing Length	Adults	216.6±9.5 | Range 201–231mm, N=1052
	Juveniles	212.7±9.5 | Range 198-228mm, N=243
	Males	223.8±7 | Range 211–235mm, N=385
	Females	206.2±5.8 | Range 196–214mm, N=242

Body Weight	Adults	880±178.9 | Range 630–1210g, N=411
	Juveniles	807±151.3 | Range 540–1080g, N=78
	Males	971±164.1 | Range 700–1250g, N=178
	Females	754±135.1 | Range 570–990g, N=77

Feather measurements and photos on featherbase

Ring size	G
Field Codes	2-letter: CO | 5-letter code: COOT. | Euring: 4290

For information in another language (where available) click on a linked name

Causes of change

There are no demographic trends available for this species and very little evidence regarding the ecological drivers of change.

Further information on causes of change

There is very little information available regarding the demographic or ecological drivers of population change in Coot.

Demographic data are only available for most recent 15 years, corresponding to a period of decline, and indicate that nest failure rate has increased and there has been a corresponding decrease in brood size over this period.

Brinkhof & Cave (1997) conducted a supplementary feeding experiment and found that seasonal variation in offspring production was in essence the result of seasonal variation in food availability. Thus, increases in food supply may have improved breeding success, but there is no evidence to support this.

Work from Finland (Ronka et al. 2005) has suggested that Coot are sensitive to overwinter weather: thus it is possible that this species may have benefited from milder winters.

Information about conservation actions

The Coot has been increasing over the long-term and the recent downturn in the trend has been insufficient to prompt alerts on the headline (CBC/BBS) trend, and therefore specific conservation action to benefit this species is not currently required. However, given the slight downturn in the BBS trend, and the fact that alerts have been raised against the WBS/WBBS trends, ongoing monitoring is important and conservation actions may be needed in the future. The continuation of local management actions and policies to maintain and create good quality wetland habitats for wildfowl are likely to benefit this species.