Date: Wed, 2 May 2001 09:16:42 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Jim Felley Subject: Soaring Anhingas and cormorants MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Parke John added the following details: +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Now could you help me further? After looking in "Sibely," the one outstanding characteristic of these birds, that would leave me to believe they were Anhingas, was the very long neck and head. The necks were very narrow and very long. The necks narrowed to the head, which narrowed to the beak, which seemed to narrow to a point. The neck and head were very serpentine looking. They looked much longer and narrower than I would expect a cormorant's neck to look. Seemingly too narrow and smooth for a cormorant (as seen in "Sibely"). The neck, head and beak formed a very very long thin perfect triangle. Does this help with the identification? +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ With experience in soaring Anhingas and cormorants (though I never saw a cormorant do more than one complete circle in a thermal without flapping), I think that the details about the head and neck sound very like 'anhinga' to me. The neck, head and bill of a flying Anhinga looks like a very long, thin isosceles triangle, tapering from the tip of the bill to the base of the neck with very little bulge at the head. Cormorants, on the other hand, have a relatively boxey head, so that there is a definite bulge at the head. Their bills also look broader from underneath. As to why all the Anhingas around here? Perhaps all the water and marshes associated with the Chesapeake, as well as the large river corridors that flow into it? More people looking? Misidentifications? All seem plausible to me. Jim Jim Felley Smithsonian Institution irmss668@sivm.si.edu ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================