File:Gathering of Coots KSC00pp0238.jpg

en:American Coot - Fulica americana Source: http://mediaarchive.ksc.nasa.gov/detail.cfm?mediaid=6027

02/11/2000

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Coots draw together (foreground) in the waters of the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, which shares a boundary with Kennedy Space Center. They are often seen in the Indian River and Banana Creek swimming together in large groups such as these. Other birds, mainly ducks, swim nearby. Coots are readily identified by their slate-gray bodies and conspicuous white bill. They inhabit open ponds and marshes from southern Canada to northern South America. Excellent swimmers and divers, they eat various aquatic plants, but also feed on seeds grass and waste grain on land. The 92,000-acre refuge is a habitat for more than 330 species of birds, 31 mammals, 117 fishes and 65 amphibians and reptiles. The marshes and open water of the refuge provide wintering areas for 23 species of migratory waterfowl, as well as a year-round home for great blue herons, great egrets, wood storks, cormorants, brown pelicans and other species of marsh and shore birds."

	This file is in the public domain in the United States because it was solely created by NASA. NASA copyright policy states that "NASA material is not protected by copyright unless noted". (See Template:PD-USGov, NASA copyright policy page or JPL Image Use Policy.)
	Warnings: Use of NASA logos, insignia and emblems is restricted per U.S. law 14 CFR 1221. The NASA website hosts a large number of images from the Soviet/Russian space agency, and other non-American space agencies. These are not necessarily in the public domain. Materials based on Hubble Space Telescope data may be copyrighted if they are not explicitly produced by the STScI.[1] See also {{PD-Hubble}} and {{Cc-Hubble}}. The SOHO (ESA & NASA) joint project implies that all materials created by its probe are copyrighted and require permission for commercial non-educational use. [2] Images featured on the Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) web site may be copyrighted. [3] The National Space Science Data Center (NSSDC) site has been known to host copyrighted content. Its photo gallery FAQ states that all of the images in the photo gallery are in the public domain "Unless otherwise noted."