Anyone who's fed ducks at a local lake will have seen coots - the small grey-black waterbirds that compete so energetically for the ducks' bread.

Known to the Noongar as "kidgebrun", coots are distinguished from the slightly-less common dusky moorhen by their white foreheads and beaks, which contrast starkly with the moorhens' red bills.

Eurasian coots gather in large numbers on open water.

Found throughout Australia, Europe, North America and Asia, the coot, with its strange jerky swimming motion and harsh "peeping" call, thrives in Perth's wetlands.

Depending on the size on the wetlands, coots congregate in populations of up to 700 on large tracts of water such as Lake Joondalup and Lake Clifton.