If you did not already know what this chick looks like, you would likely find it difficult to guess what is its particular (common) species.
If a magician were to combine and animate a mangled wire bush, an old and charred small Banksia spike, a dash of cotton wool and an overripe cherry tomato, the result would likely resemble this post’s critter.
(photo is copyright Doug Spencer, taken at 6.14 pm on New Year’s Day. For a really good look at the chick you should zoom in/enlarge the image)
Its parents are Eurasian Coots; if it survives their “tough love”, the chick will grow up to resemble them.
Widely distributed across Eurasia, North Africa and Australia, (and recently established in New Zealand) Fulica atra is a single species with several subspecies.
Some call the Australian variant the “Australian Coot”.
Click here to discover more about this noisy, aggressive, omnivorous member of the rail and crake family.
This blog will never send you an invoice, but tomorrow’s post will present a very big bill.