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The juvenile is paler than the adult, has a whitish breast, and lacks the facial shield; the adult black plumage develops when about 3–4 months old, but the white shield is only fully developed at about one year old. The Eurasian coot is a noisy bird with a wide repertoire of crackling, explosive, or trumpeting calls, often given at night.
Adults have a short, thick, white bill and white frontal shield, which usually has a reddish-brown spot near the top of the bill between the eyes. Males and females look alike, but females are smaller. Body mass in females ranges from 427 to 628 g (0.941 to 1.385 lb) and in males from 576 to 848 g (1.270 to 1.870 lb).
The white-headed duck (Oxyura leucocephala) is a small diving duck some 45 cm (18 in) long. The male has a white head with black crown, a blue bill, and reddish-grey plumage. The female has a dark bill and rather duller colouring. Its breeding habitat is lakes with open water and dense vegetation at the margin.
A black-bordered white collar separates the head from the breast. The body is largely a lighter slate blue with chestnut sides. A black-bordered white bar divides the breast vertically from the sides. The tail is black, long and pointed. The speculum is metallic blue. The inner secondary feathers are white and form white markings over the back ...
The black-headed duck is the most basal living member of its subfamily, and it lacks the stiff tail and swollen bill of its relatives. Overall much resembling a fairly typical diving duck, [5] its plumage and other peculiarities indicate it may not be a very close relative of the other stiff-tailed ducks, but rather the product of convergent evolution from the ancestors of the stiff-tailed ducks.
Like other species in the genus Mergus, it has a crest of longer head feathers, but these usually lie smoothly rounded behind the head, not normally forming an erect crest. Adult males in breeding plumage are easily distinguished, the body white with a variable salmon-pink tinge, the head black with an iridescent green gloss, the rump and tail ...
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During breeding season, adult males have a copper head and neck, with a black breast. The back and sides are gray, the belly is white and the rump and tail are black. Male bills are pale blue with a black tip and a thin ring separating the two colors. Non-breeding males lose the copper color and instead have brown heads.