View allAll Photos Tagged DART
This is either a female or juvenile Darter (Anhinga melanogaster), also known as "snake birds" with their serpentine neck. They use their pointed bill to spear fish along rivers and around wetlands.
Not long after having my best view of a local Hare yet as it ran from the bushes in front of me to an area of trees a few hundred away, I came across a couple of Ruddy Darters. They were the first ones I'd seen this year and although they were both quite wary, I still managed to get close-ups of this one as it sat on a blade of long grass just inches away from my camera lense.
Great to see them again and I'm sure that there will be many more emerging in the next few weeks :-)
OK this a Darter, I'm confident of that. However having posted pictures of what I thought were Common Darters and Ruddy Darters I am now not sure. All I can say about this one is that its probably a female. If anyone can confirm exactly which Darter this is I would be obliged. Similarly the photo I posted a couple of days ago, that I labeled "Ruddy Darter" which Greeny tells me is a "Common". As the saying goes "I used to be indecisive but now I'm not so sure" :)
P824RWU
Dennis Dart Plaxton body B40F
New Aug 1996, South London. LDR24.
At Ketley Bank, 29 Aug 2009.