KSC-99wl06

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Spotted in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, which shares a boundary with the space center, an anhinga captures a fish in its long, dagger-shaped bill. It is also known as the "snakebird" because in the water its body is submerged so that only its head and long, slender neck are visible. Ranging the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts from North Carolina to Texas, north in the Mississippi Valley to Arkansas and Tennessee, and in the South to South America, it inhabits freshwater ponds and swamps with thick vegetation. They are often seen with wings half-open, drying them in the sun since they lack oil glands with which to preen