I saw this bird while walking on one of my favorite trails. I had to look it up. It is called an American Coot. Notice its white beak and long toes. Here is the description I found.
The waterborne American Coot is one good reminder that not everything that floats is a duck. A close look at a coot—that small head, those scrawny legs—reveals a different kind of bird entirely. Their dark bodies and white faces are common sights in nearly any open water across the continent, and they often mix with ducks. But they’re closer relatives of the gangly Sandhill Crane and the nearly invisible rails than of Mallards or teal.
Stephen Nielsen 
Reblogged this on Seeing God in Nature.
LikeLike
What a nice photograph of an American Coot, especially because it clearly shows his (or her) long toes! About the only time that I ever see American Coots is when I visit St. Petersburg (Florida), which I have done more than a dozen times in the past dozen years. They like life on (or near) a pond. So, next time someone calls me an “old coot”, I’ll know what they are talking about. 🙂
LikeLike
Ha ha.
LikeLike