The Story
The shot
I photographed this Anhinga (Anhinga anhinga) near La Macarena, Meta, Colombia, in February 2021. Its buff-tan head, neck and upper breast mark it as a female; males have a black neck. Its name comes from a’ñinga, a Tupi word meaning devil bird or snake bird, and it is also called the snakebird, darter and water turkey. It hunts by spearing fish and other small prey with its sharp, slender bill. The subspecies anhinga lives mainly east of the Andes in South America, while leucogaster lives in the southern United States, Mexico, Cuba and Grenada. IUCN lists it as Least Concern.
I made this frame with a Canon R5 and the RF 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1L, at 1/1500 sec, f/6.7, ISO 400, −1 EV. Flooded forest covers about 13 percent of La Macarena National Park, mostly along the Guayabero River.
©2021 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Anhinga (Anhinga anhinga) belongs to the family Anhingidae (Anhingas) in the eBird/Clements taxonomy.
Source: eBird.org (opens in a new tab)
Conservation
Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (assessment published 2025). Source: IUCN Red List
