anhinga

For my northern friends, this is a picture of an anhinga bird. They are common here in Florida. This is a diving bird. It dives into the water to catch a fish. But here is the interesting part, the bird does not have any oil glands to secrete oil onto the feathers to make them waterproof like a ducks. We all know that water rolls off a ducks back and I have seen that many times. That is due to the coating of oil on the duck's feathers. But not this bird. When it swims back up to the surface it can't fly. The feathers are waterlogged, heavy, and all stuck together. The bird must find something like a stump to climb up onto to fan its wings to let the feathers dry. Until the feathers dry, it can't fly away and so this is a very vulnerable time for the this bird. The anhinga. An interesting bird and an unusual bird and an unusual name.
Tune in tomorrow for my next nature story. LOL (Laughing Out Loud). Lew