Nombre en español: Focha Andina

Nombre en ingles: Slate-colored Coot

Nombre científico: Fulica ardesiaca

Familia: Rallidae

Foto: Jorge Muñoz

Canto: Peter Boesman

La focha andina, gallareta andina, choka, choca, choc’a(aymara, ortografía incierta) o tagua andina (Fulica ardesiaca) es una especie de ave gruiforme de la familia de las rállidas nativa de América del Sur.

Fulica ardesiaca; ilustración de Joseph Smit, 1869.

Distribución y hábitat

Su hábitat natural son los pantanos y lagos de agua dulce en Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador y Perú. Está clasificado como Preocupación menor por la IUCN.

Subespecies

Esta ave tiene dos subespecies reconocidas:

Fulica ardesiaca ardesiaca (Tschudi, 1843)
Fulica ardesiaca atrura ( Fjeldsa, 1983)

Andean coot

The Andean coot (Fulica ardesiaca), also known as the slate-coloured coot, is a species of bird in the family Rallidae. It is found in the Andes from far southwestern Colombia to northwestern Argentina. Its natural habitats are swamps and freshwater lakes.

Description

The bill and shield color are variable. The most common combination is a chestnut shield and yellow bill with a black spot on it. Other combinations are yellow shield / white bill and white shield / white bill.

The Slate-colored Coot is also known as the Andean Coot. It is a large coot and one which has been considered to be somewhat closely related to the American Coot as opposed to the other coots in South America; it has a white trailing edge on the wing like the American and White-winged coots. The Slate-colored Coot is essentially a bird of the central Andes of South America, although it also breeds in the coasts of Peru to northern Chile. What is absolutely baffling is that the species comes in two versions, one which has a yellow bill with a red shield and green legs, and another with a white bill and shield and whitish legs. The white shielded birds also have a larger and more bulbous bill than that of the red shielded form. The two forms also differ ecologically, and in their distribution. For example almost all Chilean Slate-colored Coots are red-shielded, and the few white shielded birds which show up are always in the coastal lowlands. In many ways these two coot forms, currently considered morphs, act different enough that one wonders if two species are involved here. This certainly is a question that needs to be tackled using a molecular approach.