A lot of the stress is finally off and best of all, I am finally getting caught up on some badly needed sleep. The annual Haunt Event appears to be another successful venture and since the last post we have received a lot of positive feedback from the attendees (including Brad and Jan, but they may be biased as their annual performance review is coming up ha). The first night we ran out of time for some of the props thanks to an unfortunate late hour incident that took a bit to resolve, however, we were able to catch up on Saturday and get everything working and additional props deployed. I made a quick summary of this year’s efforts up on the mothership if you are interested (link here). Most surprising of all is the weather held for both days even though there was an over 60% chance of rain for both nights at the start of the week. Mother Nature either took pity on me or she is waiting to really hammer me during the fast approaching ultra-race.
Since I am sitting here trying to heal a few leg/foot kinks that developed while hauling all the props back out of the valley, thought I would feature a feathered friend that also has a kink …in its neck.
Hit the jump to read more about this turquoise-eyed beauty.
Taking you back to Florida, but before I do that, I want to extend our best wishes and prayers for all those recently affected by Hurricane Helene. Linda has family in the Brevard, NC area who were luckily not there at the time – that area went dark and last we checked in they had not been able to get an assessment of the damage to their homestead. If you recall, Brevard is the adopted home of the famous White Squirrels (link here). I’ve witnessed the damage left behind from tornadoes here in the heartland and can only imagine similar destruction resulting from the hurricane fallout. Worst of all, being absolutely ignored by their government in this time of need. Stay strong, persevere and let the goodness in society prevail.
As mentioned above, these shots were taken on our April 2023 trip through the upper portion of Florida (Panhandle and down to Gainesville). Our end destination was to catch the migration in Dauphin Island and opted for a wide turn to check out more of Florida on the way. This specific location was Sweetwater Wetlands Park in Gainesville (link here). I talked about this incredible birding place in a previous post featuring the Prairie Warbler (link here). There was only one Prairie Warbler spotted there on this particular trip, but there were plenty of Anhingas to keep my shutter finger busy.
All of my encounters with the Anhinga up to this point have been along the Texas Gulf and along the Rio Grande Valley. That also means those specimens were all in their winter duds as our time down there is during the winter months. This is the first time experiencing their breeding splendor – predominantly from the males.
For some reason, Cornell’s website doesn’t really cover just how stunning the male facial features become when it is time to impress the ladies. In fact, there is not one picture on their bio page that shows their ornate turquoise goggles. Luckily, this specimen was more than happy to show them off for the paparazzi. Add that bit of ornamentation to their overall jet black (with dark green) body feathering highlighted by the white/silver streaking along the back and across the wings and you have one fantastic looking bird. Their orangish bills and feet provide a nice bookend to the presentation.
Initially seen from afar, this particular specimen was performing their common practice of drying their feathers/wings. Similar to Vultures, The Anhinga will hold their wings out in the sun as if preaching to the other inhabitants of the park.
“Can you count suckers, I say the future is ours if you can count. Now look what we have here before us. We’ve got the [Herons] sitting next to the [Gators]. We’ve got the [Bitterns], right by the [Sunfish]. Nobody is wasting nobody. That … is a miracle … and miracles, is the way things ought to be.”
“Can you dig it!?!”
Couldn’t resist quoting one of my favorite movies of all time (link here). Now it was not at night nor in New York City, but you get the picture ha.
By the time I made my way over there to snap a few shots, it had folded its wings back in and looking more refined and stoic.
Lucked out and found another specimen not too far down the bank that had a ways to go before the dry cycle was finished. They have the ability to soar high in the thermals, but significantly impaired getting off the ground and in low flight if their wings are weighted down from their hunting swims. You will notice this second specimen does not have the breeding goggles on, so guessing it is in the first or second winter. Before that, the juvi feathering is similar to the adult females. They are distinct from the breeding males by their brown feathered necks
For comparison, here is a shot of a female/immature even further down the bank. Kind of looks like it is ready to rocket into space – maybe Boeing can look into that as an option the next time they abandon pilots in space.
Should point out that the Anhinga can often be misidentified in flight with the Cormorants as they have a somewhat similar profile. More so the Double-Crested variety as they have a longer tail than the Neotropics. To help distinguish the Anhingas, look at the shape of their outstretched wing profile. The Cormorants tend to look more like crosses with their shorter head relative to their tails. The Anhingas have a very long neck that that tends to give them more of a plus sign profile.
Just to leave you with a few interesting facts in appreciation for your reading time, the Anhinga conjures visions of a speargun underwater. Their heavy water logged feathers and long dagger tipped necks allow them move effortless through the water and stab unsuspecting fish. From there it is a water ballet as they go about transitioning their victim from their bill into their throats. Brad was able to capture this behavior on his trip to Harris Neck (link here).
Lastly, according to Cornell, Anhinga comes courtesy of the Brazilian Tupi Indians “meaning ‘devil bird’ or ‘evil spirit of the woods'”. What a fitting bird now that we are in the official haunt month.
After next weekend all the late year stress will be officially over and we can get back to normal operations here at Intrigued. Take care everyone and have a hauntingly good time during this official Halloween season.
Life Intrigued 