It builds a nest of dead reeds near the water's edge or more commonly afloat, laying about 7 eggs (or more in good conditions).

[2] The red-knobbed coot was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae.

[3] Gmelin based his account on the earlier descriptions by the French naturalist Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon and the English ornithologist John Latham, neither of whom had included a binomial name.

[4][5][6] The genus Fulica had been introduced in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae.

[10] A good view is necessary to separate this species from the Eurasian coot, with which its range overlaps in northwestern Africa and southern Iberia.

It does the same, but without actually flying, when travelling a short distance at speed (to escape a rival, for example, or to dispute possession of a choice morsel).

[10] The red-knobbed coot is an omnivore, and will take a variety of small live prey including the eggs of other water birds.