Eurasian Coot, Fulica atra
Eurasian Coot
The Eurasian Coot has a white frontal shield, where the shield of the American Coot is dark red. The coots were moving cautiously on the ice surface of the west pond in Clissold Park during the Christmas freeze of 2009. Below, after the pond thawed, the Little Grebe resident in the pond reappeared, and I got this photo of the coot chasing the grebe -- which was just starting its dive in this image.
 
Eurasian Coot chasing Little Grebe
Eurasian Coot
By contrast to the winter scenes in the pictures above, when I visited London again in May 2011, the coots in Regent's Park were nest-building, courting, battling for territory, and raising young birds. Above is a bird in the early stages of constructing a floating nest.
Below, two male coots in a territorial battle.
Eurasian Coots
Below, a Eurasian Coot at Kenwood House on Hampstead Heath, July 2013, and at the bottom, a juvenile of the species on the Avon at Stratford on the same trip to England.
Eurasian Coot

Eurasian Coot