H.J. Ruiz – Avian101

I bumped into this particular bird while I was looking for birds to photograph near a water reservoir, at the other side of a water creek I saw a large bird,  the early morning sun behind it, the dark effect really made it look like a statue.  Of course I  immediately approached to the closest point I could, this allowed me to shoot some pictures. This bird was a female Anhinga drying out her large wings, most likely that she was hunting for fish prior to this. She looked so beautiful!

Here is some more information about the Anhinga:

The Anhinga  is a water bird of the warmer parts of the Americas. The word anhinga comes from the Brazilian Tupi language and means devil bird or snake bird.

It is a cormorant-like bird with an average body length of (33 in), a wingspan of  (46 in), and a mass of up to (3.0 lb). It is a dark-plumaged piscivore with a very long neck, and often swims with only the neck above water. When swimming in this style the name Snakebird is apparent, since only the colored neck appears above water the bird looks like a snake ready to strike. They do not have external nares (nostrils) and breathe solely through their epiglottis.

The Anhinga is placed in the darter family, Anhingidae, and is closely related to Indian (Anhinga melanogaster), African (A. rufa), and Australian (A. novaehollandiae) Darters. Like other darters, the Anhinga hunts by spearing fishes and other small prey using its sharp, slender beak.

Unlike ducks, the Anhinga is not able to waterproof its feathers using oil produced by the uropygial gland. Consequently, feathers can become waterlogged, making the bird barely buoyant. However, this allows it to dive easily and search for underwater prey, such as fish and amphibians. It can stay down for significant periods.

When necessary, the Anhinga will dry out its wings and feathers, with the resemblance of the semicircular full-spread shape of its group of tail feathers while drying them out.

Text excerpts © Wikipedia – All photographs © HJ Ruiz – Avian101