This Oak Tree was nearly bare, giving me a good view of a Female Anhinga and a bit of color from the few remaining leaves.
Can you do this with your neck?
Easy stuff for the very flexible Anhinga.
Female Anhinga In An Oak Tree
Tag Archives: Anhinga
Blue Anhinga, And Turtle
Bird Line Up On The Dike
Being watched from the water…
Middleton Place, Charleston, SC
September 2, 2021
Anhinga Swimming Freestyle
I thought I might see this Anhinga dive and catch a fish. Instead she swam passed me, rhythmically arching her neck back and forth as she propelled forward.
And she dropped lower in the water.
I wondered
how low
would she go? And why didn’t she dive?
She was making steady progress and after a few more beats rose back up a bit and swam out of my sight scoring points for style but not getting any breakfast.
Bear Island Wildlife Management Area, SC
Rice field canal
August 29, 2021
Anhingas
Anhingas are beautiful birds in an understated way. During mating season the color around their eye intensifies to a rich minty green.
The male, on the left below, is all black and the female has a tan neck and shoulders.
These images are from a few years ago, a post I started but left unfinished. This year we are not seeing nearly as many Anhinga pairs at the rookery as other years.
Anhinga Catch and Eat
Catch and release would be an accident. And yes, it does happen as the fish has to be in the right alignment to be swallowed whole. I missed the shot showing the fish stabbed on that sharp beak.
The toss
The catch
And gone!
Great Blue Heron Flying In, Treetop
It had been a totally blue-sky afternoon until about an hour before sundown. Clouds slipped in muting the sky as a Great Blue Heron flew towards his nest.
Anhinga vs Cormorant
Lots of folks confuse these two water birds, it was interesting to see them side-by-side, watching one of each compete for the same space.
The immediate way to tell them apart is the Anhinga has a straight bill and the Cormorant’s is hooked.
The Anhinga won the first round of “King of the Hill.”
A few minutes later one of the Cormorants returned, showing off his feet as he looked to get closer to the stump.
An Ibis was on the scene, but had no interest in the competition.
Another view showing off the beak comparison.
Yellow-crowned Night-heron and Friends
Maybe not friends, but tree-mates. This dead tree stands on the banks of the Ashley River and is popular perch for a variety of birds.
I have been watching some Yellow-crowned Night-herons that are nesting at the edge of a nearby pond. This one stayed here, perhaps getting a respite from nest duty, for over an hour.
The Anhinga and Grackle came and went. The sky stayed grey.
Precision Dive
Acutally it was more of a slide than a dive.
But it was precise.
A final selection of the spot.
Toes out, wings tucked.
Hardly a ripple for score of 10.
