In winter of 2022, Maine was accorded the honor of a visit from a Stellar\u2019s sea eagle, a truly incredible raptor with an 8-foot-wingspan that may have been diverted from its migratory path as far away as Russia.<\/p>\n
Now, it\u2019s the turn of this strange, long-necked \u201cdevil bird,\u201d to send the state\u2019s birdwatching community into a flurry of activity, as it\u2019s the first-ever sighting in Maine\u2019s history.<\/p>\n
Related to the double-crested cormorant, this is an anhinga, a piscivorous bird native to South and Central America. Its breeding range extends into Florida, the Gulf Coast, and even as far as the Carolinas.<\/p>\n
The out-of-place creature started making waves on July 23, when a woman posted a photo of it in a local Facebook group after seeing it loitering near a pond in Somerville, about 70 miles north of Portland.<\/p>\n
Tabatha Holt did her own research and cleverly concluded it wasn\u2019t a cormorant, as some in the comment section had suggested, but rather an anhinga \u201ca little out of her usual range.\u201d<\/p>\n
At least 80 people were able to go and take a look at the anhinga, including Doug Hitchcox, staff naturalist for the Maine Audubon Society.<\/p>\n
\u201cClimate change is a big driver in northward expansion of bird ranges, and this fits within that pattern,\u201d Hitchcox tells the Portland Press Herald. \u201cIt is definitely a factor, but it\u2019s hard to know with a sample size of one. A lot of these waterbirds have weird expansions and retractions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Indeed, Hitchcox described this time of year as the \u201crarity season\u201d when \u201cjust about anything can show up,\u201d he said, this time to Bangor News Daily.<\/p>\n
Their name comes from the Indigenous Tupi people of Brazil, according to Sarah Kuta of Smithsonian, who called them \u201cdevil birds\u201d or \u201cevil spirit of the woods.\u201d Their no doubt striking appearance has also led to them being dubbed \u201cwater turkeys\u201d and \u201csnake birds\u201d because of the way their long, black, serpentine necks seem to move like snakes through the water.<\/p>\n