Do the coots go in the summer?

That’s what I’m wondering today.

You see, the coots came back yesterday.

Every winter, usually in late November, we see a few coots.  First there are four or five.  Then there are twelve.  Then there are twenty-four.  And then you can’t count them.

This year, I was starting to wonder if something had happened to them.  I was hoping it was just that it was still warm enough wherever they were for them to stay there, but I confess to fleeting thoughts about strange avian anomalies—like those red-winged blackbirds that mysteriously fell out of the sky in Arkansas on New Year’s Eve 2011.

So, I was especially delighted to see seven of them swim by the dock this morning.  I’m almost always delighted to see the coots, anyway, because they are so hilarious, with their white faces bobbing back and forth as they skedaddle along.  They are so sociable, always hanging out in groups, and almost certainly taunting the yellow lab that lived next door.  I’m not sure how they knew she wouldn’t go in after them, but they did—swimming right up to the dock and just waiting until the last minute for her to rush up barking wildly before they leisurely flitted a few feet out of reach.

I get a kick out of coots.

I’m happy to have them back.  It makes me feel like nature has a friendly side.  (Not always my impression when the mosquitoes are auditioning for Dracula and the sweet gums are hurling limbs at me or grasshoppers are chewing my window screens.)

The coots swim by in the morning and, usually, again in the afternoon.  We greet each other cordially.  (Well, okay—I wave out the window, and they don’t actually spit at me or anything.)  I watch with interest as the flock expands exponentially.  I think they just gather friends and relations over time as I don’t think I’ve ever seen a baby coot.  (A cootlet?)

I sometimes think it would be nice if they stayed around all year, but it’s likely we would take each other for granted if that were the case.  It’s probably best that they remain a seasonal pleasure.

But where do they go in the summer?