Another thing very odd about the feathers of a Darter, is that other than the wing and tail feathers, on these birds, all the others are very minimal in structure.
They look shaggy. There is not much evidence of the overlapping tile style that most birds have, in any of their body feathers of the Darter (presumably the
Anhingidae generally).
From: Geoffrey Dabb [
Sent: Saturday, 3 June, 2017 12:28 PM
To:
Subject: [canberrabirds] Check those scapulars (1)
A wettish darter drying itself at Jerra Ck appeared to have a double set of wings. This, it appears, was due to a feature HANZAB describes as belonging to the Anhingidae generally: ‘Erectile, striped, lanceolate scapulars prominent on
breeding birds.’ This bird at rest, with half-closed wings, is able to ‘erect’ (if that is the word) a single long feather with its base enclosed in a sheath of many smaller ones – quite a bizarre effect. I have looked at photos of other anhingas without
seeing anything quite as extreme as this. I have a related photo taken on another occasion I’ll inflict on you in a moment
