Anhinga

The anhinga, aka snake bird, water turkey and others, is that bird whose head and neck you see sticking above the water.  They dive and spear fish with their sharp, pointed beak.  Cormorants fish in a similar fashion but grasp their prey, the have a little hook on the end of their beak with which to do this.  Anhingas must dry their wings after swimming because, due to the lack of sufficient oils, they get saturated and the bird can't fly.  They find all sorts of perches on which to wait for the drying process to work.  This one has a very precarious perch on an old piling at Mt Dora's lakefront.  It was a hot sunny day so he didn't have to hold on for too long.

Anhinga

Anhingas are always drying and preening their feathers.  When they get saturated with water due to the lack of sufficient repellant oils they can't fly.  Some people refer to these birds as ugly but I disagree, in fact I can't think of a bird that deserves that description.  I took these photos on the Lake Harris waterfront at Eustis, FL.  There are some remains of an old boat factory right behind a restaurant called "The Crazy Gator" where the Anhingas and other birds perch on the tops of rotted pilings just above the water line.  The top photo is of a male with the breeding markings and the bottom one is a female.

Anhinga

This anhinga was drying it's wings after a fishing expedition in one of the shallow grassy lakes in the Ocala National Forest.  I'm always hesitant to disturb any animal just for the purpose of photographing it but I'm especially careful with these.  After they soak their feathers (no protective oils) they either can't fly or have a very difficult time doing so until they dry their wings in the sun.  Some people call these birds ugly but I think they are gorgeous, expecially the black, grey and white feather pattern on the back of their wings.  These birds go by other names such as the snakebird or water turkey.  They are a common sight in central Florida but I never tire of them.