(Click to enlarge)
© Walter Bauer, Sugar Land, Texas 1999
Field Marks: A small, plump bird of
marshes and ponds. It's also found in salt marshes and inshore waters in winter.
Sometimes swims with only head and neck visible above water's surface. It's
fairly tame for most of the year but can be quite shy in breeding season.
Breeding adults are brownish overall; stout, pale bill encircled by dark ring;
throat and chin black. Winter birds (3) paler, duller brown, with whitish chin
and throat; bill pale; under tail coverts white.
Voice: cow-cow-cow-cow-cow-cowm-cowm,
etc.
Range: Most of N., Cent., and S.
America. Migrates from colder areas.
Texas Migrant through much of state.
Winters inland on ice-free waters and along coast. Breeds locally, west to El
Paso, east to Louisiana, and north to Red River, perhaps most commonly in s.
parts of state.
Habitat: Fresh ponds, lakes, creeks,
marshes; also salt water in winter. A semi-floating raft in reedy pond or marsh.
Eggs are whitish, brown-stained (5-8).