View allAll Photos Tagged dart
The darters or snakebirds are mainly tropical waterbirds in the family Anhingidae. There are four living species, three of which are very common and widespread while the fourth is rarer and classified as near-threatened by the IUCN. The term "snakebird" is usually used without any additions to signify whichever of the completely allopatric species occurs in any one region. It refers to their long thin neck, which has a snake-like appearance when they swim with their bodies submerged, or when mated pairs twist it during their bonding displays. "Darter" is used with a geographical term when referring to particular species. It alludes to their manner of procuring food, as they impale fishes with their thin, pointed beak. The American Darter (A. anhinga) is also known as Anhinga. It is called "water turkey" in the southern United States for little clearly apparent reason; though the American Darter is quite unrelated to the wild turkey, they are both large, blackish birds with long tails that are sometimes hunted for food.
They usually breed in colonies, occasionally mixed with cormorants or herons. The darters pair bond monogamously at least for a breeding season. There are many different types of displays used for mating. Males display to attract females by raising (but not stretching) their wings to wave them in an alternating fashion, bowing and snapping the bill, or giving twigs to potential mates. To strengthen the pair bond, partners rub their bills or wave, point upwards or bow their necks in unison. When one partner comes to relieve the other at the nest, males and females use the same display the male employs during courtship; during changeovers, the birds may also "yawn" at each other.[11]
Breeding is seasonal (peaking in March/April) at the northern end of their range; elsewhere they can be found breeding all year round. The nests are made of twigs and lined with leaves; they are built in trees or reeds, usually near water. Typically, the male gathers nesting material and brings it to the female, which does most of the actual construction work. Nest construction takes only a few days (about three at most), and the pairs copulate at the nest site. The clutch size is two to six eggs (usually about four) which have a pale green color. The eggs are laid within 24–48 hours and incubated for 25 to 30 days, starting after the first has been laid; they hatch asynchronously. To provide warmth to the eggs, the parents will cover them with their large webbed feet, because like their relatives they lack a brood patch. The last young to hatch will usually starve in years with little food available. Bi-parental care is given and the young are considered altricial. They are fed by regurgitation of partly digested food when young, switching to entire food items as they grow older. After fledging, the young are fed for about two more weeks while they learn to hunt for themselves.[12]
These birds reach sexual maturity by about two years, and generally live to around nine years. The maximum possible lifespan of darters seems to be about sixteen years.[13]
Darter eggs are edible and considered delicious by some; they are locally collected by humans as food. The adults are also eaten occasionally, as they are rather meaty birds (comparable to a domestic duck); like other fish-eating birds such as cormorants or seaducks they do not taste particularly good though. Darter eggs and nestlings are also collected in a few places to raise the young. Sometimes this is done for food, but some nomads in Assam and Bengal train tame darters to be employed as in cormorant fishing. With an increasing number of nomads settling down in recent decades, this cultural heritage is in danger of being lost. On the other hand, as evidenced by the etymology of "anhinga" detailed above, the Tupi seem to have considered the anhinga a kind of bird of ill omen.
Looking up the Dart valley shortly after sunrise.
Please visit my website at www.brucelittle.net for more images and to order prints
Red-Veined Darter (Sympetrum fonscolombii), Nea Makri, Attica, Greece, Sep 1, 2018 · 10:42 AM, Lat: 38.101363 Lon: 23.979872.
I'm working on improving my dart. I was pretty tired today, and forgot most of my moves, but hey, my body position isn't so bad. Filmed by Ian!
Darter Anhinga melanogaster in the mangroves of Bao Bolon Wetland Reserve near Tendaba in Gambia, January 2013.
We see this fellow so often on the harbour that I see him as a friend.
Love his expression.
He's just got out of the water to dry out.
DART had an event this morning to educate folks on how to use their new bike racks. They should do this every weekend. I can't tell you how many times I see a DART bus going down the street with an empty bike rack.
I hope to use this in the future as part of my commute to work.
Please visit www.suburbanassault.org/
Please join Suburban Assault on Facebook
Please join Suburban Assault on Flickr