A Coot Family

Not a five-minute walk away from the busy Old Town in Annecy, France, the slightly litter-strewn river water gives way to a startlingly clear blue.

(Click to enlarge.)

It's certainly an environment that a bird could comfortably build a nest in, but I was still surprised to see this black-feathered, white-beaked coot sitting in a nest in such plain view. Clearly, they fear neither humans nor other birds.

Turned out, they were a family. According to sources of dubious legitimacy, the female coot is slightly smaller than the male, but in this case the one feeding the baby is significantly larger than its partner.