They eat fish, frogs and often newly hatched alligators. Anhingas, on the other hand, soar high over the marshes with their necks and wings straight out. The Anhinga has a striking blue-green eye ring in breeding plumage. In addition, Anhingas have longer tails and small, white markings on their backs. Cormorants have a curved, hooked bill opposed to Anhingas straight, long bill.
Cormorants often fly low to the ground with rapid, ducklike wing beats. Cormorant: Anhinga: Inhabit mostly coastal waters and rarely freshwaters: Mostly inhabit freshwaters: Shorter neck compared to anhinga: Longer neck compared to cormorant: Bill is long and curved with a sharp hook: Bill is slender, long, and pointed: Stronger swimmer and hunts faster than anhinga: Good swimmer and diver, but not as fast as cormorants Anhingas nest in small colonies, often with herons or egrets. Anhinga vs. Cormorant…. Double-crested Cormorants drying their wings – E Konrad. They each feed by swimming under the water and chasing after fish using their big flipper feet to rapidly propel them along. The Anhinga’s beak is pointed for spearing [i.e., stabbing] fish, while the Cormorant’s beak is hooked for grasping its prey. Double-crested Cormorant are nearly the same size, 33″ long with a 52″ wing span. After every dip, it strikes a regal pose on the edges of shallow lakes and ponds, with its silvery wings outstretched and head held high to dry its waterlogged feathers.
It is known for its very long neck and its unique swimming style. The Cormorants’ body remains above the surface when swimming [unlike the “snake-bird” appearance of a swimming Anhinga, which swims … What may sound like the Loch Ness monster is actually an Anhinga, swimming underwater and stabbing fish with its daggerlike bill. Both species forage below the surface of the water and feed primarily on fish. But once a fish is caught, that is where the similarity ends. Both the anhinga and the cormorant are water birds. Two Fishing Styles. In general the anhinga has a longer tail, a thinner, snakelike neck, and a smaller body than a cormorant. The African Darter (Anhinga rufa), also known as the Snakebird, is an animal unique to sub-Saharan Africa. The African Darter gets the nickname "Snakebird" because it swims similar to the way a … A dark body stealthily swims through a lake with only a snakelike head poking above the surface.