eWestern Birds
The Quarterly Journal of Western Field Ornithologists
Two Photographed American Coot x Common Gallinule Hybrids
Richard A. Erickson and Stephen C. Rottenborn
ABSTRACT: To the three previous reports of hybrids of the American Coot × Common Gallinule we add two, one from Mountain View, California, in July 1995 and one from Tijuana, Baja California, in December 2019 and January 2020. The hybrids were similar in their coot-like build and intermediate plumage coloration, but they differed in size, bill and leg coloration, extent of lobes on the toes, and some plumage details. The one in Tijuana was larger than either parental species but made vocalizations of both species. Such intergeneric hybrids are rare, but at least 11 examples of Fulica × Gallinula have been reported from the Old World.