English           -            Anhinga 

Portuguese    -            Biguatinga

Latin               -            Anhinga anhinga

The Anhinga is a cool looking, photogenic bird and best photographed when it is drying out it wings after fishing. (as in photo 1) It seems to be a wide spread species in Brazil. I have photographed it in a few different locations. Photo No. 1 was taken at REGUA, (Reserva Ecológica de Guapiaçu) in the state of Rio De Janeiro. This photo was taken from inside a hide on the Wetlands trail (Yellow trail) at the reserve. The hide at REGUA offered you a chance to observe animals in there natural surroundings without disturbing them. The second photo was taken at Parque Botânico Vale in the state of Espirito Santo. It was taken late in the afternoon, so the lighting was quite bad as the sun had just ducked behind the hills but the Anhinga just popped out of the water just in front of us as we were leaving the park with a fish in it’s mouth, so it gave me a good opportunity to snap some photos of it feeding. The third photo was taken in the Pantanal, in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul. The Anhinga was photographed in one of the many water holes that you pass by when driving along the road “MS184” which is a dirt road of around 116 km. Every couple of 100 metres you have to cross a bridge in which you need to stop and take a look as you just don’t know what is there. Normally you will find bird life, but you could be lucky and find a deer taking a drink or you could be really, really lucky and see a Jaguar cooling down. (we never saw one though)

* The Anhinga  is a large bird and measures 89 cm in length, up to 95 cm in height and with a 1.14 m wingspan.

* It is also known as the snakebird, darter, American darter, or water turkey.

*The word ”Anhinga” comes from the Brazilian Tupi language and means devil bird or snake bird

* The Anhinga is found in the southern US, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean.

* The female lays 3-5 light blue eggs The chicks are blind and helpless after hatching .The chicks fledge when at six weeks of age.

* It feeds on fish in which it stabs with its sharp beak before eating.

* Sound of a Anhinga calling

* The Anhinga is classed as abundant, although their aquatic habitats are threatened. DDT was found to have an effect on the reproductive success of these birds and banning of this pesticide in North America has benefited those birds that breed in the southern United States. The are classed by the IUCN as a species of “least Concern”.