Anhinga and darters | Anhingidae

Slangenhalsvogels | Aningas

A small family of four species of tropical and subtropical fresh waters. In Mexico and Central America only the Anhinga occurs, in the lowlands along both coasts, in marshes, rivers, lagoons and mangroves. It resembles a cormorant with a slimmer body, a long, fan-shaped tail and a very long, thin neck; the male is black with silvery-white markings on the wings, the female has a pale brown head, neck and breast. A special hinge between the eighth and ninth neck vertebrae lets the bent neck shoot forward like a spring, and with its straight, dagger-sharp bill the bird spears a fish underwater, then shakes it free at the surface, tosses it and swallows it head first. It often swims low in the water, with only the snaking head and neck showing. Because the feathers let water in, after hunting it must sit on a branch for a long time with wings spread to dry and warm up. In flight it alternates flapping with gliding, and on thermals it circles high like a small raptor. Anhingas nest in trees over water, often among cormorants and herons.