Anhinga: Bird of the Week
We live about ten miles from a lake, and every now and then the cormorants and anhingas that live there take a jaunt to our pond. This week we had an Anhinga, and it stayed long enough for me to get good pictures.
The Anhinga on a log in the pond.
Zooming in.
It flew up into the pines.
Spreading its wings.
It took off again, and I got one pretty clear picture of it in flight, so I had fun playing with some PhotoShop Elements effects, which qualifies me to join XingfuMama’s One-to-Three Photo Processing Challenge! Nothing too artistic, just some fun practice with effects.
It landed in yet another tree and showed off some new angles.
Perch #2.
Perch #3.
It did not seem comfortable and kept trying different branches. I guess if I was trying to wrap big floppy feet around a branch, I would not be comfortable either!
Anhingas have been in the news lately, because in May, one showed up in Brooklyn, New York, and 22 were seen in Rome, New York. This is far outside the usual northern limit of their range, which is in the Carolinas.
In the past, a lot of different birds have landed on that log in our pond. You can see more of them, including a male Anhinga, here.
I am joining in with I.J.Khanewala’s Bird of the Week.
I saw anhingas in the Florida Everglades 30 years ago – they looked really weird, especially fumbling around in tree tops. Same with the Oriental Darter and African Darter. Sometimes our (great) cormorants have the same problem – young birds that haven’t got the hang of it are really fun to watch!
We have Double-crested Cormorants where I live (about 80 miles inland from the Gulf of Mexico) and there are Neotropical closer to the Gulf. I have never seen the Oriental Darter and African Darter of the Great Cormorant, but I would like to!
In the early 2000s, we did some long-haul trips – New Zealand (honeymoon), Nepal, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Dominican Republic & Brazil. Interesting places, and lots of new wildlife. But really, I’d rather travel closer to home in Europe – plenty of places and wildlife there to keep me happy.
Wow! My husband travels for work, which means he does not usually want to travel any other time. 😦 I have gotten to go along on some trips, and I have been to Europe I think 6 times, but I have not been to any other continents. And I have just gone to the usual cities. But I have been watching a lot of documentaries lately about Hidden Poland, Bohemian Waterways, etc., and I never realized there were so many wonderful natural areas in Europe, and I would love to visit them!
Not a bird we’ve ever seen up here in Iowa. You did some nice Photoshop effects. I like the pan blur most of all.
Thanks, Jim! The pine needles looked pretty blurry in the original so I thought I would just go with it! 🙂
I’ve never seen one of these. What a beautiful bird!
Yes, the older males have very dramatic black and white plumage that is very chic! 🙂
Great photos. It is good they are around your pond. Love the photo effects as well 🙂
Thanks! I had decided to play with the photo effects, and then your post about the guitars pointed me to that one-to-three photo challenge, so I thought I would join in! 🙂
Glad you found a bit of fun 🙂
From your location I’m guessing that’s Anhinga anhinga, the American darter. Beautiful photos.
You are right about Anhinga anhinga; sorry, I should have put the Latin name. But it’s weird, I have never heard of it called American darter in my life! I just checked my two most used references, Birds of Texas by Arnold and Kennedy, and Sibley’s, to make sure I haven’t just missed that name but neither one has it either. It makes perfect sense as a common name, but I have just not heard it.
A few years ago I did a post about obsolete bird names (as taken from a US Fish and Wildlife publication) — you might like looking at that — /https://littlewildstreak.com/2016/11/13/quiz-obsolete-bird-names/
🙂
I enjoyed seeing this bird. We live near a woodsy swamp in New Jersey, and now and then I see a strange bird or two in there. I will be on the lookout for this one, but as of yet, none in this area that I know about. Great filtering also.
Thank you, it was fun to play with the filters. I hear that Hurricane Idalia pushed flamingos all the way to Ohio; who knows, maybe you will get to see some of those! 🙂
What a remarkable bird! You got some interesting distortion effects.
Thanks! It was fun and I hope to participate again soon!