At Home with Anhingas

As a preface to sharing these images of our Florida nesting Anhingas, I thought I would share the charm of a longish excerpt from John James Audubon’s entry on The Anhinga or Snake-Bird (Plotus anhinga, Linne) from his Ornithological Biographies. Audubon provided his records of observation of the birds of America along with the Birds of America prints ordered by his lucky subscribers!! Although, can you believe it, some complained that the beautiful double-elephant portfolio prints were TOO BIG!! As much as I love the birds themselves, I was a late comer to knowing the charm of the woodsman and artist as expressed in these volumes. He was a bit of a showman too with his stories.

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“Many sultry summer days I have passed amidst the most dismal swamps of the secluded woods of Louisiana, watching with anxiety and in silence the curious habits of the Anhinga; the female bird now sitting closely on her eggs, in a nest constructed by herself and securely placed on the widely extended branch of the tallest cypress, that if by magic planted, stood in the midst of an ample lake, while with keen eyes she watched every motion of the wily Buzzard and cunning Crow, lest either of these cowardly marauders might deprive her of her treasures; the partner of her cares and joys meanwhile, with outspread wings and fan-like tail, soaring on high, and glancing first anxiously towards her he loves, then in anger towards one and all of their numerous enemies. In wider and bolder circles he moves, rising higher and still higher, until at length becoming a mere dusky speck, he almost vanishes from my sight amidst the expanse of blue sky; but now, suddenly closing his wings, and rushing downwards like a meteor, I see him instantly alight erect upon the edge of the nest, and complacently gaze upon his beloved.

After some time, about three weeks perhaps, I have found the eggs shells beneath the great cypress tree, cast out of the nest by the intelligent and attentive mother, and floating on the green slime of the stagnant pool. Climbing to the nest itself, I have seen the tender young clad in down far softer than our sea-island cottons, writhing their slender and tremulous necks, and with open mouths and extended pouches seeking, as all infants are wont to seek, the food suited to their delicate frame. Then, retiring to some concealed spot, I have seen the mother arrive with a supply of finely masticated nutriment, compounded of various fishes from the lake, and furnish each of her progeny by regurgitation with its due proportion. …At length, after waiting many days in succession, I have seen them stand, in an almost erect posture, on a space scarcely large enough to contain them. The parents seemed aware of the condition of their brood, and, affectionate as they still appeared to be, I thought their manner towards them was altered, and I felt grieved. Indeed, sorely grieved I was when, next week, I saw them discharge, as it were, their children, and force them from the nest into the waters that were spread below…..I saw them hurled into the air, and alight on the water. But, Reader, Nature in all this had acted beneficially; and I afterwards found that in thus expelling their young so soon, the old birds had in view to rear another brood in the same spot, before the commencement of unfavourable weather.”

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Anhinga chicks at home with Mom!

The female  has a golden chest and dark brown head. The adult male anhinga  has a dark chest with dark head and coppery head feathers.

 

Young anhinga poses nicely amid tangled branches of his nesting colony. 

 

Anhinga chick beneath its nest. 

 

 

 Anhinga chicks with heads tucked at their backs in between the wings. The little pink skin head and curious eye are not completely concealed between the feathers. The slate blue quills from which the feathers grow can be seen on the tail feathers quite well.

 

 

Looking a bit naked and cold and like plucked chickens, these young anhinga chicks clambor for food from their Dad getting all tangled up together in the process. Little pink skin heads look fragile and these guys are pretty helpless without their parents. 

 

Competing for a chance to get fed, anhinga chicks seem to dance in tandem swaying with heads and necks parallel together at their parent’s face. This activity is very sinuous and in constant motion as the chicks chatter out their hunger. Avian parents always amaze me with their steadfast dedication to this task.

 

At last one chick is being fed while the other waits in line not so patiently for dinner!! The first time I observed anhinga feeding I thought it was an aggressive attack as one anhinga threw itself down the throat of the other. My first view was of older chicks and I did not entirely understand what the ruckus was. The great herons are regurgitation feeders but drop the food into the chicks mouths..mostly..whereas the anhinga chicks are trained to dive right in.

 

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I hope that you will discover the writings of Audubon as part of the fun of it is that observations today are much similar and the flavor of his observations are rooted in time.

 

Judy

~ by Judy on March 16, 2013.