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Whenever I paddle with someone visiting Crystal River, they’re bound to have questions about wildlife and the river itself.  Knowing the names and habits of Crystal River wildlife and the history of the river’s “old Florida” landscape, helps all of us appreciate and care more about our natural heritage.  Through these posts, I will address some of the questions I have been asked, and some of the questions you may be asked when out on the water with friends and family.  

A few days ago, I was paddle boarding in front of Pete’s Pier with my college roommate, Kevin. While Save Crystal River has done no work at the pier yet, you can clearly see the downstream effects of their pilot project. Eelgrass has spread, and the water has become much clearer. In fact, it’s clearer than I’ve ever seen it. Fish, crabs, manatee, and healthy eelgrass now visibly populate the area.

Kevin pointed at a water bird standing on a dock with its wings spread open to the sun.  He was curious about this medium sized, dark-colored bird. You have seen these birds on dock poles or idle speed signs, but what exactly are they? I grew up hearing them called cormorants or anhingas, but I never knew the difference between them. Were they the same bird? Were they a different species? Well, here’s the scoop:    

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Anhinga:

In short, the anhinga and the cormorant are two very different kinds of birds. While their looks are quite similar, their hunting styles, beaks, and their ability to survive in different geographic locations are very different. 

The word anhinga derives from a Brazilian language, which translates into English as “devil bird” or “snake bird.” They earned this name for their long neck and the way they slither through water. Some people even say anhingas look like miniature Loch Ness Monsters!

Oddly enough, anhingas do not have waterproof feathers, which might seem like a disadvantage, but in reality it helps the birds slowly submerge their bodies underwater to stealthily hunt fish. Anhingas hunt by using their spear-like beaks to pierce small to medium sized fish and crustaceans. Their bodies are brown and black, and they have dark beaks. 

Anhingas mainly live along the coast in the southern part of the United States, and they can be found as far south as Argentina. After a successful hunt or a long day, anhingas rest on docks or pilings with their wings spread, letting the sun dry out their waterlogged feathers. Once their wings are dry, they can easily fly to their next hunting location or nest.

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Cormorants: 

Cormorants look very similar to anhingas except cormorants have black bodies with bright orange beaks. If you’re lucky, and can get close to a cormorant, take a look at their eyes. The double-crested cormorant, the cormorant found in Florida, has bright cyan eyes. From further away, however, the most telling feature that identifies a cormorant is its hooked beak. Unlike the anhinga, the cormorant uses its beak to grab its prey underwater rather than spear it. 

Much like the anhinga, cormorants have a diet of small to medium sized fish, and they prefer prey that is easier to catch. People often confuse cormorants and anhingas because both birds dry their wings out in the sun. Unlike most waterbirds, like ducks, cormorants and anhingas have less preen oil on their feathers. This means their feathers get waterlogged and heavy. In order to fly effectively, they need their wings to dry out.

Cormorants can be found more north than anhingas and more inland. If you look at the maps above, they show where cormorants and anhingas live in the United States. As you can see, there is overlap, but anhingas are generally found more south than the cormorants, which are found in more northern parts of the US.

Thankfully, you don’t have to travel far to see these birds. Anywhere along Crystal River, you can easily spot them. There tends to be a high correlation between bird sightings and Save Crystal River restoration sites. This makes sense because more habitat means more fish, and more fish means better fishing for birds. Not only is Save Crystal River restoring the river, but they are also revitalizing the wildlife. 

Next time you’re out on the water, don’t let your friends or family members stump you with a wildlife question. You’ve now got the anhinga and the cormorant down, but what’s next? Feel free to ask me any specific questions you might have at walkeronthewater21@gmail.com, and I’ll be happy to write a post about it. 

I’ll see you on the water,

Walker A. Willis 

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Photo Credits:

Anhinga with Wings Spread: All About Birds

Cormorant with Wings Spread: The Manitoulin Expositor

Anhinga Headshot: Flickr

Cormorant Headshot: Dreams Time

Anhinga Map: All About Birds

Cormorant Map: All About Birds

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Whether you’re a fisherman, a boater, or just someone who likes to be on the water, the tides will affect when and where you can travel. What exactly causes tides? Most of us probably know it involves the moon, but is there more to it?

At the most basic level, all things have some degree of gravitational pull. The Earth’s gravitational pull is called gravity, but even people generate a slight gravitational force. Because the moon is smaller than the Earth, it has less gravity. This explains how astronauts jump higher on the moon than on the Earth.

The moon’s gravity doesn’t only affect objects on its own surface; the moon generates enough gravitational pull to affect the Earth, which is approximately 238,900 miles away.  Most importantly, the moon’s gravity creates tidal force. As the moon’s gravity pulls the Earth towards it, the Earth’s waters bulge out towards the moon. Water is more fluid than land, so the oceans are more dramatically affected than the ground; however, even rocks and mountains experience slight “tides” caused by the moon. Click here for a short video about tides if you’d like to learn more.

Let’s look at the picture below for an example of what causes a high tide. If the moon is on the east side of the Earth, this results in a high tide in the eastern hemisphere. Then, the northern and southern points of the Earth experience a low tide. 

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Why do we experience two high tides in one day?

If you look closely at the image above it seems to display a contradictory idea. In the picture, when the moon is on the east side of the Earth, not only does the east side of the Earth experience a high tide, but so does the west side. Having a high tide on the right makes sense because it is closest to the moon and therefore experiences the most force, but what about the left side?

The left side actually experiences a high tide due to centrifugal force. Without diving into too much physics, centrifugal force is the outward force felt when an object moves in a circle. This might seem a little confusing, but there are some real life examples where we can experience this force first hand. Think of being on a merry-go-round, or on a teacup ride at an amusement park, or even on the “Round-Up” carnival ride. In all of these instances, when you rapidly spin in a circular motion, your body will feel pulled away from the center of rotation and towards the outside. This is centrifugal force. 

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On the diagram above, the moon’s gravitational pull is the weakest on the left side of the Earth, but the Earth is still spinning around its axis and generating powerful centrifugal force. If you can feel this force on a merry-go-round going 10 mph, imagine how strong it is as the Earth spins circularly at 1000 mph. The “round-up” carnival ride hardly reaches 100mph, and it’s impossible to peel your body off of the wall! 

Centrifugal force forces the water to bulge out and form a high tide, and this explains why we experience two high tides and two low tides every 24 hours. 

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Spring Tides vs. Neap Tides

The sun also plays a role in tidal change. The sun is so massive that even though it’s 94,216,000 miles from the Earth, it’s gravitational force still affects the Earth. (Being so far away, however,  the sun does not generate nearly as much gravitational force as the moon.) When the Earth lines up with the sun and the moon during full moons and new moons, the sun’s and moon’s gravitational pulls work together. This double pull results in extreme high and low tides. These extreme tides are called spring tides (See image above on the left). 

When the pull of the sun and the moon work perpendicularly on each other (as seen in the image above on the right), during half-full moons, we have neap tides, which means there is a smaller fluctuation or swell between low and high tides.

If you get the chance, check out the moon’s phases and try to catch a spring tide out on the water. Fishing is especially good, and you can travel much further into the salt marshes.

I’ll see you on the water,

Walker A. Willis

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Photo credits:

Tide Chart with Moon: NOAA

Spring and Neap Tide Charts: Sailing Issues

Low Tide in Harbor: Popular Mechanics

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