Anhinga, close portrait

Anhinga anhinga

Anhinga · Everglades National Park · 6 February 2026

An Anhinga close up in the Everglades in February, head and neck filling the frame. Anhingas are birds of the slow fresh water of the American South and the tropics, swimming submerged in the sloughs and ponds and spearing fish, and the Everglades hold them everywhere there is water.

The finely serrated edge near the tip of the bill is a built-in fish-spear, angled backward so a struggling catch can't easily work itself free once impaled. The pale, streaky feathering on the head and neck marks a female or immature bird; adult males are solid glossy black-green here. Anhingas lack the oil most waterbirds rely on to stay dry, which is why they swim with just the neck above water and spend long stretches perched with wings spread to dry afterwards.