Hi Y’all!
Misty Shores Chesapeakes asked “Is that a swam amoungst the ducks?” on Follow Up Friday
but answered their own question… “ahhhhh pelicans I thought they were swans the other day, very cool!” on Look Whose Back!
Above is the original photo which does not clearly show the Pelicans bill.
Before you ask, those other birds are mostly Anhingas with a few Cormorants thrown in for good measure. The only difference it the tip of the bill. The Anhingas have a pointy bill and dive to spear their food which consists of fish and, reportedly, baby alligators.
Cormorants have a blunt bill, the upper bill slightly hooked at the end.
Neither bird has waterproof feathers so it must find shore or a some other perch where it can spread its wings until they dry.
Cormorants do more continuous soaring when they fly, while Anhingas flap their wings and soar in between, much like a hawk.
The only reason my Human knows that there are cormorants in that mix, is that she found one dead on our beach a couple of years ago.
Anhingas are usually solitary birds and very territorial. You only see these huge flocks in the winter.
Were you in charge of dropping the ball this year?! HNY 2014!
I don’t know, was I?
Now I need to go get some exercise…I’ll be back on Monday to tell you about my News Eve…in the meantime I’ll show up in Sepia Saturday and Black and White Sunday…come on along!
Y’all come back now!
Hey Hawkie! Happy New Year.
What are Anhingas? LOL… At first, I read it like angina… isn't that like a heart problem.
Speaking of cardio, have a happy and fit weekend.
LikeLike
Loved seeing the pelicans. They always make us smile. Have a fabulous Friday Hawk.
Best wishes Molly
LikeLike
Wishing you a very Happy New Year Hawk!! Love seeing all of your BIRD pics!! xo Chloe and LadyBug
LikeLike
You look worn out on the first photo Hawk!
Happy New Year.
http://sumskersandearslkers13.blogspot.co.uk/
LikeLike
You are lucky that all those birds come to visit you. 🙂 Have a nice weekend.
LikeLike
As I lie here in my dog bed reading this with the temp outside below zero, it is hard to believe this is a current post. My life is frozen, but we still manage to have fun. The birds all left here a while ago, so no birds, no open water, just winter. Have fun and looking forward to seeing what you did on New Years!
LikeLike
Bird chasing burns a lot of calories. And if you catch one? They are low in calories!
Happy New Year and thanks for joining FitDog Friday.
-Slimdoggy
LikeLike
Hey Hawk! We have a lone Anhinga in our neighborhood lake. He loves to stand on the giant (fake) ducks in the lake to dry his feathers. I hope you have a great weekend, buddy. I think I am going to try and join Sepia Saturday. *paws crossed*
Oz
LikeLike
Howdy Hawk,
Looky here and all dem there birds. Very informative.
Y'all have some real good exercise.
Penny says welcome to 2014.
Penny's alleged human,
Gary 🙂
LikeLike
Very interesting bird hybrid going on there. Hopefully you don't get too many gators in that pond!
LikeLike
Hey Hawkeye, thanks for the water fowl lesson, we don't see stuffs like that here. Are they fun to chase?
The Mad Scots
LikeLike
That's a lot of birds. My Grandma was into identifying them but although I appreciate then, I haven't a clue. I know Canadian Goose and mallard 🙂
LikeLike
Well that is one heck of a lot of birds! LOL beautiful though.
((husky hugz))
“love is being owned by a husky”
LikeLike
Happy New Year Hawk and thank you for joining the blog hop.
You have some beautiful scenery out there. I wonder if your human spends a lot of time watching the birds with binoculars? I imagine I would.
LikeLike
WOW!! W hat a cool blog you have!
So interesting and all the wonderful photos!
love
tweedled
LikeLike
Great fuf, thanks for the story between cormorants and anhingas, I didn't know that stuff. We have cormorants up here and they eat so many fish out of our lakes they harm the lakes buy taking so many.
LikeLike
Happy FitDogging you'all. Looks like you've had a busy week again!!
LikeLike
I didn't know that about the feathers. Very interesting. 🙂
LikeLike
Oh cool, I thought they were all Cormorants and had never heard of Anhingas. Thanks for teaching us more about them and the differences!
Jan, Wag 'n Woof Pets
LikeLike