The mysterious Anhinga.
They gained the moniker "snakebird" and this picture shows you why. They swim with their body under the water and spear fish with their sharp beaks. At times, when they are repositioning themselves, you can only see their snake like head poking out.
One of my shots was timed where I could confirm it was spearing the minnows and then surfacing, flipping them into the air where he would then catch and seallow them. Amazing.
Here I just missed snapping a shot of the minnow it just swallowed - but my goodness - imagine seeing this creature surface and do that quick near you - scary!
When they are done fishing they fan their wings and sun themselves. They are vulnerable as they can't fly well with wet feathers, so I had to very slowly approach him to get a better look.
He allowed me to get surprisingly close (about 20 feet away) but at that point each step I took evoked a vocal response and he would drop his head and bulge the area under his neck.
I sat and watched him for about 30 minutes and really enjoyed the Company.
Off to the next pond!
All pictures taken by 