[Length 35 in. Wingspan 45 in.]

Anhingas are also called "Snakebirds", "Darters", and "Water Turkeys", names which attempt to describe their appearance when they swim with only their long neck and head above the water. They do look like swimming snakes, they do "dart" through the water, and they often fan their long tail feathers underwater, which gives a turkey-like appearance! Anhingas often sit with their wings extended to dry their feathers after they come out of the water. Anhingas occur in freshwater swamps, marshes, lakes, and along rivers from South Carolina through Florida, and along the gulf coast states to southern Texas. They feed on fish, frogs, and aquatic insects, which they spear with their long pointed bill. They will also eat newly hatched alligators! This one was photographed along the "Anhinga Trail" (where else?!) in Everglades National Park, Florida, USA. Photo taken with a Nikkor 300mm ED f4.5 lens on Ektachrome 400 film. (Date: March 1982)

[Length 35 in. Wingspan 45 in.]

This female Anhinga was photographed along the Anhinga Trail at Everglades National Park, Florida, USA. Photo taken with a Nikkor 300mm ED f4.5 lens on Kodachrome 200 film. (Date: March 1982)

[Length 35 in. Wingspan 45 in.]

This male Anhinga and chick in a nest were photographed along the Anhinga Trail in Everglades National Park, Florida, USA. Photo taken with a Nikkor 300mm ED f4.5 lens on Kodachrome 200 film. (Date: March 1982)

[Length 35 in. Wingspan 45 in.]

This Anhinga was photographed at the Audubon Sabal Palms Sanctuary, Brownsville, Texas, USA. Photo taken with a AF-S VR Nikkor 300mm f/2.8G IF-ED lens + Nikkor TC20E II 2.0x Teleconverter (EFL=900mm) on a Nikon D200 camera. (Date: January 21, 2009)

[Length 34 in. Wingspan 48 in.]

This Brandt's Cormorant was photographed along the coast near Santa Maria, California, USA. Photo taken with a Nikkor 300mm EDAF f4.0 lens on Kodachrome 200 film. (Date: September 1997)

[Length 34 in. Wingspan 48 in.]

This Brandt's Cormorant in flight was photographed along the coast near Santa Maria, California, USA. Photo taken with a Nikkor 300mm EDAF f4.0 lens on Kodachrome 200 film. (Date: September 1997)

[Length 34 in. Wingspan 48 in.]

This Brandt's Cormorant was photographed on the Coast Guard jetty at Monterey, California, USA. Photo taken with a Nikkor 300mm ED f4.5 lens on Kodachrome 64 film. (Date: November 1981)

[Length 33 in. Wingspan 52 in.]

The Double-crested Cormorant is brownish black year-round. In breeding plumage it is a shinier black, with a bright orange gular (throat) pouch. For a very brief period during the breeding season, two feather tufts (from which the bird gets its name) are visible on the head. It resembles a Loon as it swims and dives. The Double-crested Cormorant has one of the strangest breeding ranges of any bird, being found in a ring around North America. It inhabits coastal waters, inland lakes, and rivers along the west coast from the inner Aleutians to the tip of Baja California and down the west coast of Mexico, along the east coast from Newfoundland to Cuba, across the Gulf Coast to just south of the tip of Texas, and then up the Rio Grande into New Mexico. It also nests up the Mississippi River to the Great Lakes and across the northern prairies in the midwest and in southern Canada. The birds disperse coastally and southward in the winter, sometimes gathering in roosts of up to a quarter million birds at some inland lakes. This Double-crested Cormorant was photographed at Ding Darling NWR, Florida, USA. Photo taken with a Nikkor 300mm EDAF f4.0 lens on Kodachrome 200 film. (Date: October 1991)