The Story
I photographed this Anhinga (Anhinga anhinga) at Everglades National Park, Florida on June 10, 2017. Its name comes from the Tupi language and means devil bird or snake bird, since only its neck shows above the water when it swims. Its feathers get wet, so it perches with wings spread to dry them and soak up the sun. The park was established in 1934 to protect the quickly vanishing Everglades and dedicated in 1947.
I took this with a Canon EOS 70D and the EF400mm f/5.6L USM, at 1/800 sec, f/5.6, ISO 400. IUCN lists the Anhinga as Least Concern, and the park is one of only three places in the world listed as a World Heritage Site, a Biosphere Reserve and a Ramsar wetland of international importance.
©2017 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