bird photography : american coot

The American Coot is a strange bird indeed, with scaly toes lacking any duck-like webbing. John saw this particular Coot in the waters off the boardwalk at the Barefoot Landing development in Myrtle Beach.

Equipment: Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XT Canon EF 300mm f4L IS with 1.4x Teleconverter Settings: f8; 1/80 sec.; focal length at 420 mm; ISO 400 Date: April 16, 2006 1:16 pm Location: Barefoot Landing / Myrtle Beach, SC Photography Notes: Coots make for challenging photography due to their dark, black bodies and white beaks; if exposing properly to capture the detail of the body feathers, the highlights on the beak are likely to be blown. This one came out okay, with only a slight bit of color bleed around its bill.