The majestic Snakebird

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(Edited)

I've been a subscriber to the Feathered Friends community for some time, but I've never made a post before. However, I love seeing the community posts, especially those by my friend @tengolotodo. Who loves feathered friends and is kind of partial to swans and ducks. And speaking of ducks, I saw some impressive birds yesterday that at first, I thought they were a kind of ducks, and let me tell you about them.

Yesterday morning, I went for a walk with two friends. But this time, instead of going to the mountains, where we usually go for a walk. For a change, we decided to go to El Laguito Park. A park in the middle of the city with a big artificial lake, and we saw many feathered friends on our walk.

A few species of ducks and other birds can be seen on the lake and in the park, but one, in particular, caught our attention because of its striking plumage.

PatoAguja_5.jpg

We weren't sure what kind of bird they were when we saw them. The unfurled wings and beaks of two birds impressed us. So we approached the edge of the lake to get closer to them.

They were posed on a kind of grid.

PatoAguja_6.jpg

I had never seen this type of bird before, and neither had my friends. But as we got closer and saw their legs, we thought they must be some ducks. But we were wrong, they were Anhingas, or as it is commonly known, snakebirds.

The anhinga, sometimes called snakebird, darter, American darter, or water turkey, is a water bird of the warmer parts of the Americas. The word anhinga comes from a'ñinga in the Brazilian Tupi language and means "devil bird" or "snake bird". Source

PatoAguja_7.jpg

From what I read about these specimens. The males are black with spots in their plumage. That is to say that this is a male.

And this one with the black head also seemed to have a very stylish hairstyle. Don't you think?

PatoAguja_4.jpg

His companion, with a lighter-colored head and a less stylish hairstyle but also with an impressive needle-like beak, seemed to be even friendlier when we approached and showed us his wings.

PatoAguja_1.jpg

When we moved to see him from behind, we saw that he also had white spots on his plumage, so he must be a male too.

PatoAguja_2.jpg

I have also read that they swim with their bodies submerged and stick their pointed beaks into fish to catch them. Although, these two guys that were there did not give us any demonstrations.

And no wonder in Spanish they are known as pato aguja, which translates to needle duck.

Have you ever seen a snakebird? I was amazed by its majesty.

Thank you for reading!

All images and writing are my own unless otherwise stated.

© CoquiCoin

Mayo 22, 2023

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Pato-aguja, yes we also called ducks as pato! You captured the best moments of them, especially while flapping those wings!

I saw some birds sometimes here but didn't got a chance to capture 🤣.maybe I was too slow .

!PIZZA

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I'm usually slow to photograph birds, hehe that's why I've never posted on Feathered Friends before. But I was lucky to capture these in their splendor 😉

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Haha , so maybe I will my luck next time too 😁

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(Edited)

PIZZA!

$PIZZA slices delivered:
coquicoin tipped deviliclucifer
@hoosie(6/15) tipped @coquicoin
lhes tipped coquicoin

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They are beautiful sis. I've never seen one and this is my first time thanks to your amazing shots😍

!LUV

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Thank you, sis!! They are impressive. I wonder if you have a similar variety over there. These are American natives, but from what I read, there are also African Anhingas.

!LUV

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I'm not sure if we do sis. Even ducks seem to be rare here in town. Not many people have them hehe.

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Lovely species, these are beautiful specimens masterfully photographed @coquicoin frien... I have seen them in an attitude of "drying with their wings open" in some of the bodies of water near my town.... Excellent article!... Thanks for sharing!

!discovery 35
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Hola, Jesus!

Among the things I read about this species is that they do that thing you describe, of opening their wings to dry off when they come out of water.

Thank you very much for your support, a big hug!

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Never saw such feathered friends in my life.. And I guess, I haven't posted here yet 😅..

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Maybe it's time for you to show some HK's birds, hehe 😊

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I did share about flamingos. I forgot where I posted it haha..maybe in amazing nature community ..

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We have a lot of herons and flamingos in some regions.
And if you have more flamingos pics, you can share them here ;)

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Snakebirds are pretty cool! We don't have them here in Portugal, but did see a few in Costa Rica. Nice photos!

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I’m genuinely thrilled everytime I read about people that got the chance to be exposed to these kinds of things in nature. It might not mean much to you guys because you see them often, but man I’d think about it for days if I run into anything these cuties.

Around here, we don’t see much of wild life or birds except the usual pigeons and doves, and even those will not allow you come a meter near them. I think they’ve learnt to be alert and fear us because they’re hunted and killed a lot here as opposed to over at yours where you appreciate them for their beauty.

Lovely pictures! What camera do you use btw?

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Thank you! And yes, it is a great thing to be able to enjoy nature and see beautiful birds like these from time to time. I hope you can do it someday.

I used an iPhone 8 to take the photos.

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What!!! An iPhone 8? These birds are especially beautiful then. I thought you had a professional camera. You’re good!

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They look absolutely majestic and I wonder why they didn't fly away or something. I've never seen a snakebird but I'd love to see it, though those long beaks scare the life out of me, I'm sure they're pretty friendly, hopefully.

I'd love to take pictures of birds around here but I guess I'm too slow or they're just too fast. Either way, I'll try hard one of these days.🤗

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They didn't look threatening at all, and the fact that they didn't fly when we approached was what made me think at first that maybe they were some kind of ducks.

And yes, taking pictures of birds can be difficult, but these were very cooperative, hehe. 😆🤗

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I'm glad to be able to have witnessed them. So thank you dearest @coquicoin for sharing.🌺🤗

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Those are beautiful, plumage yet full of floof too, thank you

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These birds look really interesting. They remind me of a Pokemon. The eyes and the interesting feathers on its head are very striking.

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Hehe! How funny that they remind you of a pokemon. 😆

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Whoa, what a unique and beautiful birds,. I'm amaze you were able to captured it without them flying away.

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Well, they are waterfowl, and that's why I thought they looked like ducks at first. They were there to dry their plumage in the sun.

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How delightful is to see your post in our community. 🙂
Stunning bird, so well captured. I love to read about birds from other places, this one is no exception. What an interesting name the bird has and how elegant does look.

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It is my pleasure, Neli:)
For a long time, I've wanted to publish a post in FF, but the opportunity had not arisen until now. Those striking birds gave it to me.

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Those two truly are impressive :) Are they rare???

This post has been manually curated by the VYB curation project

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Snakebird is a pretty cool name for a bird ! They look pretty interesting indeed !
!ALIVE
!PIZZA

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