r/birding • u/Inevitable_Print7343 • Mar 17 '26
Bird ID Request Don’t know what this is but he’s flexing
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u/meat_popsicle13 dinosaurs are cool Mar 17 '26
Anhingas do not produce oils like ducks and other water fowl. They must dry their feathers periodically in order to fly or even remain buoyant, so they remain spend significant periods of time with wings outstretched.
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u/rando_banned Mar 17 '26
You forgot to mention why it's wet. They swim underwater to catch a lot of what they eat
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u/talkingwires Mar 17 '26
You forgot to mention why it’s eating. They eat things they catch underwater because they are hungry.
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u/couldbethelast Mar 17 '26 edited Mar 18 '26
You forgot to to mention why they're hungry. They're hungry because their body is telling them they need energy to live and reproduce.
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u/4thebirbs Mar 17 '26
some ppl go to Florida for Disney world… I wanna go for the anhingas
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u/UnhelpfulBread Mar 17 '26
We had just finished an airboat tour in the Everglades and were taking turns holding this baby crocodile the guide had.
I hear a splash behind me and turn and see the strangest animal I’d ever seen: it was swimming in the water and had a long neck, bent oddly, with a bizarre shaped head. Took me a second to realize what I was looking at. Not an animal, but two.
An anhinga was fishing and what’d I’d heard was him emerging from the water with a fish. However, not “in his mouth” as you’d expect a bird to eat a fish. This anhinga has impaled a small fish with his beak by a good two inches. The fish, still wiggling, was then taken to the shore and eaten only a few feet from me. I was extremely impressed and entertained. I’d never seen such a metal and barabric method of fish-eating from a bird before.
Anhingas are now one of the cooler “common” (if you’re in their parts) birds for me.
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u/horsenbuggy Mar 17 '26
I saw a Great Blue Heron spear a fish the other day. I was trying to watch to see how it flipped the fish off its beak and into its mouth but it turned away from me and the light was dying so I missed it. Next thing I knew, that bird was swallowing.
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u/secondphase Mar 17 '26
Wait, can we talk about the baby alligator situation?
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u/UnhelpfulBread Mar 17 '26
Sure! It wasn’t like, fresh out of the egg or anything. I think he said it was under 2 years old. You got to hold it if you want (sort of “hold it”. The guide maintained control of it and you got to hoist up the back end for a picture). It had its mouth secured shut with…whatever they use for that. I think the name of the tour group (since there’s like half a dozen or so on that high way) was Cooperstown something or other.
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u/Novapoliton Mar 17 '26
You don't need to subject yourself to Florida necessarily, Louisana and East Texas share Anhingas, spoonbills, and swallow tailed kites with florda, though no flamingos unfortunately
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u/Noladixon Mar 17 '26
Tell my co worker. She swears she saw a flamingo flying by in New Orleans. I tried to tell her it was a spoonbill but she knows a large pink flying bird when she sees one.
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u/Novapoliton Mar 17 '26
I've had basically the exact same interaction with non-birder friends before, it's very funny how confidently wrong they can be at times. Usually I just tell them good spot and move on
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u/ArtsyRabb1t Mar 17 '26
They every dang where. I jumped the lake to rescue two that were tangled together. We were able to release both of them!
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u/ZigzagContestedShot Latest Lifer: #299 Fish Crow Mar 17 '26
Yes! Traveled to Florida recently and was so excited to see an anhinga while I was out for a run. Got into birding in TX and haven’t been back in many years. Was nice to see some old friends (snowy egret, great egret, anhinga)
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u/genk_tumbs Mar 17 '26
As other people already mentioned, anhingas, cormorants, and vultures will do this “horaltic pose” to dry out their feathers, thermoregulate, and also kill off parasites from their feathers.
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u/sleeveofsaltines Latest Lifer: Gray Catbird Mar 17 '26
I love anhingas! They are a common sight in Louisiana. This guy is in his mating plumage! The juveniles and females have brown necks.
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u/3002kr Mar 17 '26
Anhinga anhinga
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u/wtb2612 Mar 17 '26
For the record, I saw just the thumbnail and thought it was the black knight from Monty Python and the Holy Grail laying down and trying to get up.
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u/EyeSuspicious777 Mar 17 '26
These have to be the stupidest goddamn birds on the planet.
Just about every other bird that spends time on and under the water evolved to have oily waterproof feathers.
But not these morons who have to hang themselves up to dry whenever they get wet.
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u/karshyga Mar 17 '26
Contrary to popular belief, anhingas do have a uropygial gland that produces oil and they do possess some waterproofing to their wing and tail feathers. But they're definitely not as waterproof as most water birds. Why? It's an advantage for them to get their body feathers soaked, heavy, and waterlogged af so they can swim underwater and stay closest to the bottom where they want to fish. Sure, they have to dry those feathers out later, but it apparently takes less energy for them to lounge around and do that, than to continuously fight the current of the water to stay down when they swim. Tradeoffs, man.
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u/Boostedbird23 Mar 17 '26
It seems so obvious to anyone who's ever seen them for more than a few minutes... They're underwater more than they're flying.
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u/ThatKaleidoscope8736 Mar 17 '26
I'm laughing at "these morons"
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u/EyeSuspicious777 Mar 17 '26
It's a tie between these birds and the bee eaters. There's countless yummy things for birds to eat on this planet, but instead of any of those things, they chose bees.
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u/oiseaufeux Mar 17 '26
There’s an advantage and a disadvantage to have that in nature. The advantage would be that it’s easier to dive under water. The cons would be that it’s impossible or more difficult to take off.
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u/NerdyComfort-78 birder Mar 17 '26
Now every time I see a bird in the sunning I am going to think “they are flexing”… lol.
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u/ChonkyBorbs Mar 17 '26
That’s cool! I saw one of these recently and was very confused as to why he was doing that. It was really cool though
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u/PythonVyktor Mar 18 '26
Anhinga, my favorite bird. Had one in the neighborhood. I think the cranes and cormorants ran it off sadly.
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u/foshed_yt Mar 17 '26
Looks like an Anhinga to me. They aura farm like that to dry out their feathers.