That is a question a team of biologists have been asking for quite some time and, as is typical in science, the answer was not what they first expected. Previous studies conducted by this same laboratory concluded that coot parents preferentially feed chicks that display brighter coloration. The goal of the present study was to determine why this was the case.
The researchers noted that coots lay between 8-10 eggs and these eggs hatch in the order they were laid. Additionally coots are nest predators and lay eggs in other coots nests. One hypothesis was that the chicks hatched from predatory eggs were the more brightly colored chicks and thus would have gotten fed more. This turned out to be false. The researchers discovered that the chicks hatched from the latter laid eggs were the more brightly colored. Typically chicks hatched latter in a brood have to catch-up to their larger siblings if they are to survive. The researcher noted that if these smaller and brightly colored latecomers survived the parents would use their coloration as a way to preferentially feed these chicks more and allow them to catch-up to their earlier siblings. 2
A wonderful survial strategy reveled in a nicely done study. Hat’s off to science and to the coot.
References:
1. University of California – Santa Cruz. “The mysterious case of the ornamented coot chicks has a surprising explanation: The bright colors of the chicks of American coots help their parents choose favorites, according to a new study.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 31 December 2019. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/12/191231111817.htm.
2. Bruce E. Lyon, Daizaburo Shizuka. Extreme offspring ornamentation in American coots is favored by selection within families, not benefits to conspecific brood parasites. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2019; 201913615 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1913615117
nature has no boss 
Another example of nature’s brilliance!
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Yes, so many questions to be asked and answered.
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That’s really interesting! Thank you!
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Your welcome and fun stuff to read.
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Really interesting! And so cute as little ones.
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Cute and brightly colored for sure.
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Wow, how interesting and sure makes sense once you know. Great captures of these sort of ugly little ones!
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Hi Ellen, it is quite a nice study and a good peek into the complexity of their behaviors.
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Wonderful article! I had no idea that baby coots looked like this, and I love the mystery around why. I’m surprised they refer to the coots that lay eggs in the nests of others as predatory… I think of this as parasitic behavior (see brown cowbirds).
Also you have a typo… “tootheir” where you mean (I think) “to their.”
Love your blog!
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Hi Kit, I have seen that eggs laying behavior referred to as both predatory and parasitic and not being in the bird science world don’t know if their is a small difference or they are synonyms. Thanks for pointing out the typo.
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Those babies made me laugh out loud, so fuzzy and cute!
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Hi and thanks for the feedback. Yes those little one are a wonderful sight in their colors.
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They certainly stand out! Very pretty (in a cootish sort of way!)
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Coots do indeed have a coots way to them.
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I’m envious of the photos you were able to obtain of the chicks. I have seen them only a few times, but my pictures never turned out. As opposed to some other commentators, I find them anything but ugly.
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Hi Tanja, we just happened to find a spot in a marsh where these little ones we just on the edge of the cattails and luckily the made a few quick appearances out in the open for photos.
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