Giant coot coot, the giant coot is monogamous and the pair builds a huge nest in a highland lake. However, unlike the horned coot, the nest of the giant coot is primarily made of aquatic vegetation and – as it is fiercely territorial – it never forms colonies. Giant coot The giant coot ("Fulica gigantea") is a species of coot from South America. It is found at lakes in the altiplano from central Peru, through western Bolivia, to north-eastern Chile and extreme north-western Argentina. With a total length of 48–64 cm (19–25 in), it is the second largest extant member of the
Hawaiian coot subspecies of the American coot, "Fulica americana alai". On Oahu, Maui, Molokai and Kaua’i, the Hawaiian coot was previously abundant in coastal brackish and fresh-water ponds, streams, and marshes; however, the first censuses conducted in the 1950s and 1960s detected fewer than 1,000 birds statewide. Since the 1960s, the interannual population size has fluctuated from less than 1,000 birds to over 3,000, and appears to be gradually increasing. Biannual surveys conducted by the Hawaiian Department of Land and Natural Resource’s Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DOFAW) found that between 1998 and 2003 the inter-island coot population averaged 2,100 birds, ranging