Anhinga

About the Anhinga

The Anhinga is the "water turkey" of southern swamps - a long, snaky-necked black waterbird with silver-white lacework across the wings, a long fan tail, and a straight dagger bill. Females wear a warm buffy head and neck. Swimming birds ride so low that often only the head and neck show above water, earning the other folk name "snakebird."

Unlike ducks and cormorants, Anhingas lack fully waterproof plumage - a tradeoff that cuts their buoyancy so they can stalk fish slowly underwater, spearing them with a lightning thrust of that pointed bill. The soaked bird then hauls out and poses in the classic spread-eagle drying stance, wings and tail fanned to the sun, one of the great silhouettes in American birding.

In Texas, Anhingas are birds of the eastern half of the state, breeding in swamps and wooded ponds and lingering year-round along the coast. Cypress-lined oxbows and quiet park lakes with dead snags are exactly their kind of water.