Anhinga (American darter)

How it lives

It lives in freshwater and brackish lakes, marshes, swamps and mangroves with shrubs or trees along the water. Pairs are monogamous and build stick nests in trees above water. A clutch is usually 2 to 6 pale bluish-green eggs, with an average of about 4. Both parents incubate for 25 to 30 days. Chicks fledge at about 6 weeks and adults mature at about 2 years. The oldest known wild bird lived 16.4 years.

Where it goes

The sources I read do not describe long migrations. It lives in warm, shallow, slow-moving water from the south-eastern United States through Central and South America. Its range is limited northward because it lacks insulating feathers.

We only draw a journey on the map when scientists have tracked it or clearly documented it. For this animal we have not found one yet.

Populations

Wikipedia lists 33,300 to 133,000 birds (BirdLife International, 2025) with an unknown trend, and its range spans about 15 million square kilometres. It is described as abundant across the Americas, with habitat loss and pesticide contamination as ongoing threats. I did not find population numbers by country.