I have only a pair of coots hanging out in my pond. I enjoy watching them dive and play. I have been trying to lure ducks to the pond with only a little luck. My questions are will the coots have any negative affects to my 2 acre pond? Will they keep "real" ducks from landing? I have gone to a lot of trouble to build and put up wood duck houses and don't want to screw that opportunity up.

Flame, I don't know of any negative effect the Coots would have. I currently have 13 Wood Duck houses and successful hatches every year. I also have Coots at the same time along with other ducks. I think they may be a plus as other ducks will see them and have confidence to land on the pond.

Thanks woodster. I'm just in to my 3rd year of my pond with no experience with ducks. Good to get info from someone that also has wood duck houses. Maybe they will lure some other ducks in.....excluding water turkeys!!

I agree, I think the coots are an attractor to other ducks. I like them around when duck hunting. If you lived across that state line and into Louisiana you could find a recipe for eating coot

When we have coots, they loiter around with the ring necks in the shallowest water. They seem to co-exist fine.

Bad duck year for us so far. All we've had is ring necks, and a very few whistlers. We leave our spotting scope mounted on a tripod right by the front door, and there hasn't been much exciting to look at so far this winter.

Well...It's 19 degrees here this morning!!! My coots are still here. Coldest water temp ever 47.5 degrees. Fish still fed but slow. Maybe this freeze will bring some ducks down!!

I have a few old coots around my pond. They usually are lot of fun to fish with. However, if they are "IN' the pond, I would suggest cutting them off a bit sooner.

If they end up in the pond I love watching them flounder around and throw them peanuts and little goldfish crackers!!

You should try throwing them a lifesaver sometime. They become Ringnecks.

fish n chips....pictures please!!

There are 2 different types of ducks and both will not inhabit the same area. Divers and puddle ducks.

Coots are a weird bird, not really a duck, they don't even have webbed feet like a duck, but they lean more to the diver side of the tree than the puddle duck side. They will also eat Chara, which I've never seen another duck eat.

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Coot/id

Ring necks are also divers.....

If you don't have much water that is less than 18" deep, and closer to 12" or less deep, then you won't have many puddle ducks. They will not dive completely under the water for food, they tip over with their butts in the air to feed.

If done by a capable chef, coot gumbo is very good but, unlike owl, egret or heron, is not considered to be gourmet fare.

Dudley, where in the dickens have you been? I figured you had either died of old age, been indicted or maybe even incarcerated.

Still crackin, just haven't had much to say and I've been laughing so hard since November 9 that I couldn't have said it anyway.