Eurasian Coot

Fulica atra

Order: Gruiformes
Family: Rallidae
Presence in the Strait: Resident
Abundance: abundant
IUCN (global): LC · Least concern
In Spanish: Focha común

Photograph: Roger Culos, CC BY-SA, vía iNaturalist

Length: 36–38 cm
Wingspan: 70–80 cm
Weight: 750–850 g

Presence in the Strait

Scarce resident, more abundant during winter in wet regions (>300).

Identification

Diving water bird, larger than a Moorhen. Black with prominent white frontal shield and bill. Juveniles are brownish-grey with white throats and breasts.

Movements

Sedentary with short-distance post-breeding dispersal but with longer movements of birds from the North. Postnuptial migration is more evident than prenuptial. Peaks in March and 1st half November.

Ring recoveries

Spain (157) the majority in Huelva (54%) and Seville (44%). France (2), Letonia (1), Morocco (1) and Portugal (1).

Bioestrecho editorial text. Last revised: 8 September 2026.

Photographs from iNaturalist observations with the licence checked file by file. Those marked “Strait” were taken within the area; place and date are those of each observation.

Calendar in the Strait

14 %

Peak in September. Observations under CC0 or CC BY licences. The distribution also reflects observation effort.

Where it is seen

Open records from the atlas database, in cells of about 3.6 km. Opacity follows the square root of the count, and also reflects where people observe most.

See on the map

First open record: 13 May 1976
Latest record: 31 December 2024

The oldest and the most recent open observation in the extended area. A recent first observation does not mean the species is new: it means nobody had published it openly before.

Conservation

The catalogues, Andalusian and Spanish, are what binds; the Red Book assesses the Spanish population with IUCN criteria, and the global Red List is the context.

LCNTVUENCR

Andalusian Catalogue: Not included
Spanish Catalogue: Not included
Red Book of the Birds of Spain 2021: LC · Least concern · breeding
Global Red List (IUCN): LC · Least concern

Andalusian Catalogue: Junta de Andalucía, list of 24 April 2025. Spanish Catalogue: MITECO, table of 30 June 2025. Red Book: SEO/BirdLife, 2021 (Annex I). IUCN: via GBIF, 6 September 2026. Red Book and IUCN categories are assessments; catalogue categories are legal obligations.

Phenology compared

Monthly distribution in proportion, by decade. It shows whether the passage is getting earlier or later.

1990–1999

2000–2009

2010–2026

Proportions, not totals: observation effort grew faster than any population.

Where they come from

162 birds ringed in other countries and recovered in the area.

Spain157
France2
Latvia1
Morocco1
Portugal1

See the journey on the map

Same genus in the Strait

Red-knobbed Coot38–42 cm · Vagrant · overlapping size

Species of the same genus that also occur here, ordered by how close they are in size. Being relatives does not mean they are confused in the field, but that is where the doubts start: compare size and season.

Classification

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Gruiformes
Family: Rallidae
GBIF taxon key: 2474377

Sources

Distribution and calendar: Bioestrecho's own database, ingested from GBIF and OBIS
Photograph: Roger Culos, CC BY-SA, vía iNaturalist
Taxonomy: GBIF backbone, pending WoRMS for marine taxa
Editorial text: written by Bioestrecho
Last revised: 8 September 2026

Eurasian Coot

Presence in the Strait

Identification

Movements

Ring recoveries

Gallery