Darter
Anhinga melanogaster
General description 4
The Darter is a large, slim water bird with a long snake-like neck, sharp pointed bill, and long, rounded tail. Male birds are dark brownish black with glossy black upperwings, streaked and spotted white, silver-grey and brown. The strongly kinked neck has a white or pale brown stripe from the bill to where the neck kinks and the breast is chestnut brown. Females and immatures are grey-brown above, pale grey to white below, with a white neck stripe that is less distinct in young birds. The Darter is often seen swimming with only the snake-like neck visible above the water, or drying its wings while perched on a tree or stump over water. While its gait is clumsy on land, it can soar gracefully to great heights on thermals, gliding from updraft to updraft. It has a cross-shaped silhouette when flying.
Sources and Credits
- (c) Arthur Chapman, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3017/2997783329_c2dba52f43_o.jpg
- (c) Lip Kee Yap, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3329/3262958073_b15663feee_o.jpg
- (c) anonymous, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://pngbirds.myspecies.info/sites/pngbirds.myspecies.info/files/AnhiMela.jpg
- (c) Katerina Tvardikova, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/31846117
