Startled, our little coot took off. Coots are poor fliers. When they take off they use a sort of skittering, hopping gait. As you can see here it is virtually running across the top of the water. With the high winds he soon settled down once he'd gained some distance.
I like this picture because it really displays the way coots will take off and move across the top of the water as opposed to many other waterfowl.