Alternative name: Snakebird
- Anhinga rufa
Identification
An 80 cm (31 in) tall cormorant-like species with a very long neck.
It has a thin white lateral neck stripe against a rufous background colour.
The male is mainly glossy black with white streaking, but females and immature birds are browner, the white stripe is fainter or completely absent.
Similar Species
Similar to Oriental Darter.
Distribution
Southern half of Africa and Madagascar.
Taxonomy
Has been considered conspecific with Oriental Darter and Australasian Darter.
Subspecies
There are 2 subspecies[1]:
- A. m. rufa (African):
- Africa south of the Sahara and Middle East
- A. m. vulsini:
Habitat
It occurs in both saline and fresh water, especially near mangroves.
Behaviour
Often swims with only the neck above water.
Diet
They spear their prey (mainly fish but also other aquatic animals e.g. snakes, frogs, crustaceans etc.) underwater as they swim along.
Breeding
This species builds a stick nest in a tree and lays 3-6 eggs. It often nests with herons, egrets and cormorants.
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2015. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2015, with updates to August 2015. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Birdsinbackyards
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2021) African Darter. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 29 April 2021 from https://www.birdforum.net/wiki/African_Darter
