Category: Rallidae

Review of the Status of American and Caribbean Coots in the United States Virgin Islands

American Coot (Fulica americana) Science Article 8 abstract Breeding (and non-breeding) American (Fulica americana) and Caribbean (F. caribaea) coots are generally rare to uncommon in the United States Virgin Islands where they have a restricted distribution at some brackish and freshwater sites. Their sympatric range includes St. Croix, where coots are most numerous at brackish […]

Carotenoids in the eggs of american coots: associations with size of eggs, local environment, and diet

American Coot (Fulica americana) Science Article 9 abstract I studied carotenoids in the eggs of American coots (Fulica americana) from 3 study sites in Saskatchewan, Canada. I supplemented two diet types designed to reduce carotenoids in the diet of laying coots to investigate the relationship of carotenoids and the size of eggs and to examine […]

Epizootic Vacuolar Myelinopathy of the Central Nervous System of American Coots (Fulica americana) and Bald Eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus)

American Coot (Fulica americana) Science Article 10 abstract Unprecedented mortality occurred in bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) at DeGray Lake, Arkansas, during the winters of 1994-1995 and 1996-1997. The first eagles were found dead during November, soon after arrival from fall migration, and deaths continued into January during both episodes. In total, 29 eagles died at […]

Paternity-parasitism trade-offs: a model and test of host-parasite cooperation in an avian conspecific brood parasite

American Coot (Fulica americana) Science Article 11 abstract Efforts to evaluate the evolutionary and ecological dynamics of conspecific brood parasitism in birds and other animals have focused on the fitness costs of parasitism to hosts and fitness benefits to parasites. However, it has been speculated recently that, in species with biparental care, host males might […]

Improving the reliability of molecular sexing of birds using a W-specific marker

American Coot (Fulica americana) Science Article 12 abstract Molecular techniques for identifying sex of birds utilize length differences between CHD-Z and CHD-W introns, but in some cases these methods can lead to sexing errors. Here we show that an additional W-specific primer can be used in conjunction with a pre-existing sexing primer pair to dramatically […]

Breeding of the Water Rail Rallus aquaticus in Cladium mariscusvegetation

Water Rail (Rallus aquaticus) Science Article 1 abstract We have studied breeding habitats of the Water Rail Rallus aquaticus in Cladium mariscus (Galingale) vegetation at Botshol (Abcoude, 51 deg 52’N;5 deg 04’E) in The Netherlands and on Oland in Sweden. Water Rails were localised by day by provoking vocal responses with a cassette recorder, using […]