This is a female Anhinga, the soft brown neck feathers identify it. Males have dark black neck feathers.

Their huge feet make them very clumsy on land, or trees.

This bird was drying herself by flapping her wings.

The Anhinga will fish underwater and are acrobatic swimmers. Because they do not have oil on their feathers they can stay under water for long periods of time. However, they also must dry off to fly.

Anhinga live across South America up into the southern US. They are more of a tropical bird and fairly large too, about 3 feet (.9m) tall.

The name Anhinga is actually a Brazilian native Tupi  name for the bird. In some areas they are also called ‘snake’ birds or darters.