At Last – A bird I don’t need help spotting!

It’s hard to miss an anhinga drying its feathers in the sun.  The anhinga is a big bird, standing about 3 feet high with a wingspan of almost 4 feet. Its almost black glistening coloration provides no camouflage in the shallow freshwater swamps where it hunts small fish.  I like to spot them because they are fascinating, unusual birds.  Even the name is special.  The word anhinga comes from the Brazilian Tupi language and means devil bird or snake bird.

A female anhinga is easily distinguished from the male because of her light brown neck and head.  With dry wings, this female roosts among the low branches waiting for her next hunt.

The male is almost all black and often found higher in the trees, sometimes alone, sometimes in a group.  Like egrets, male anhinga often have bad hair days giving them a slightly comical appearance.

Anhinga are also very distinctive in flight – they look like a fighter plane as they soar on thermals with outstretched wings, streamlined head and tail extended straight and level.  I don’t know of any other swimming waterbirds that soar like this!

An Anhinga is sometimes confused with a double-crested cormorant. Similar size and shape, the two species often nest and roost together and both will spread their wings to dry.  But the bill of a cormorant has a hook-tip while the anhinga has a longer, sharply pointed bill.   The anhinga is a “darter” and hunts by spearing fish and other small prey using its sharp, slender beak. The picture of a cormorant below should cement the different appearance of the two species.

The anhinga below also illustrates the much larger tail than the cormorant and demonstrates the extreme flexibility of its neck.  I think the more I’ve learned about this bird, the more interesting it has become.

Of course, cuteness is also important!  This picture shows that an anhinga has a cute, endearing look that the cormorant lacks!  I think the only other bird with a cuteness quotient that comes close is an egret on a bad hair day …

The snake bird …

The origin of the name snakebird is apparent when the anhinga swims.  The anhinga doesn’t have waterproof feathers.  It doesn’t have the glands that secrete wax and it doesn’t preen like other waterbirds.  Instead, the wet feathers help them sink and swim underwater. Because the anhinga is barely buoyant, it can stay below the surface more easily and for longer periods of time. Anhingas stalk small fish and spear them through their sides with their sharp beak.

Obviously, I’m not going to photograph these birds swimming underwater in an environment teeming with alligators – remember the alligators from a few posts ago?  Anhinga live in the same waters as egrets and herons.  But let’s watch – as the anhinga begins to submerge, only the long flexible neck appears above water so the bird looks like a snake ready to strike.

Slowly, it sinks deeper . . .

Until – here.  Can you spot the anhinga’s beak?  Look at the circular ripples – the beak is at the center of those ripples.

If it doesn’t spot a small fish, the anhinga slowly rises above the water – only to sink again.  It swims slowly underwater, stalking fish around submerged vegetation.  It’s not a fast swimmer, so it waits underwater for fish to come near, then impales them with a fast thrust of its bill. Remember the flexibility of its neck?  Its neck is specially adapted for this kind of rapid thrust.

I know this anhinga was looking for a bigger fish, but it’s going to take what it can get.  (And of course, I’d love for it to have speared a larger fish for a more impressive photograph, but I have to take what I can get!)  So it spears the fish through its side and brings it to the surface.  Of course, the problem now is how to eat the fish?

To eat, the fish is tossed in air, then swallowed headfirst.  (If the fish doesn’t cooperate, the anhinga simply catches it and tosses it up again.)

Here I have to apologize – I should have made it easier for you to see the fish up in the air.  Perhaps you can spot the eye of the tiny fish a little above and to the right of the anhinga’s open mouth.  It’s above the yellow foam and among the green blades of grass.  I promise you, the fish is there and I can see it!

Proof?!  Look at the picture below.  Look at the shape of the neck – that fish is going down!

Look at the shape of the neck below – that fish has been swallowed!!

Now, having eaten, the anhinga has to swim back to its perch … It must stand above the water and dry its wings.

An anhinga can’t fly while its wings are wet …

It’s a big bird.  To fly, it must “run” along the water to get the speed necessary for take off.  It has to flap it wings vigorously.  Its wings must be dry.

So the anhinga must get out of the water, then flap its wings to shake the water off, then stand with wings spread and feathers fanned open in a semicircular shape letting the sun finish the drying process.  The water glistens on the anhinga’s back.

Look at the neck.  Look at those webbed feet!  Such an amazing bird.  Every facet of its body evolved for survival.

Once orientated, the wings are spread …

The shaking begins.

Water drops are visible as the the bird shakes its feathers.  Note the damage to the feathers at the base of its tail.  Perfection is rare in the wild – I photograph many birds with feather and wing damage.  Sores are common.  Just nature . . .

After the excess water is shaken off, the anhinga holds its wings extended, letting the sun finish the drying process.

This takes time.

So we’ll leave our friend in search of another interesting episode.