Anhinga

Anhinga redirects here. For the genus Anhinga, see Anhinga

Male: Photo by stejon
Florida, USA

Anhinga anhinga

Identification

L. 35" (89 cm); Ws. 45" (114 cm)

• Slender
• Dark body
• Long tail and neck

Male:

• Jet black with green iridescence
• Dramatic silver and white markings on upper back and forewings
• Long, sharp yellow bill
• Red eyes with blue skin

Female: Photo by Gary Clark
Sabal Palm Audubon Center, Texas, USA

Female:

• Dark brown overall
• Lighter brown head, neck, and breast

Distribution

In the U.S., it is found all along the Gulf of Mexico coast, inland east Texas to Florida.

It is also found along a narrow strip on the southwest coast of Mexico, in Cuba (vagrant in the rest of the Caribbean), and in Central and South America from Guatemala, Belize and Trinidad and Tobago south to Argentina (but not Chile).

Taxonomy

Subspecies^[1]

Two subspecies are recognized:

• A. a. leucogaster:

• South-eastern US to Panama, Cuba and Isle of Pines

• A. a. anhinga:

• Trinidad, Tobago and northern South America to northern Argentina

Photo by bobsofpa
Venice Rookery, Florida, USA, February 2010

Habitat

Freshwater ponds, lakes, and marshes.

Behaviour

Dives frequently for fish, which it spears with its long sharp bill, then tosses them in the air until it can swallow them headfirst.

The colloquial name, Snakebird, can be quite descriptive when this bird is in the water - it swims with its body mostly submerged, and just the long sinuous neck above. On quick glance, it can thus appear to be a swimming snake. The other common posture is on a tree near or over water, where it spends hours with wings extended, drying in the sun; unlike ducks, it has no oil with which to waterproof its feathers, an adaptation to improve its diving ability.

Monogamous.

References

1. Clements, JF. 2008. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2008. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019.

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Anhinga. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 17 May 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Anhinga

External Links

• Anhinga USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center
• Anhinga videos on the Internet Bird Collection
• Arthur Grosset's Birds

Search for photos of Anhinga in the gallery