Help identifying a bird?

Factual Questions
1

I don’t have a photo or possibly that helpful information, but it’s been driving me crazy and I can’t seem to find it on the Florida wildlife websites.

Description (as is): medium sized, wading-bird proportions, long dark green neck with scruffy-looking feathers. Seen sitting on a rock at the beach. The lifeguard had no idea what it was, either- just that he’d seen it around. (Closest-looking neck on Google is something called an anhinga, but that one’s black. I’m pretty sure this guy was green).

Thank you

(next time on Malleus’s Florida Adventures: “What’s this lizard and where do I find more?”)

2

Anhinga was my first guess, with the scruffy feathers. Here’s an image of one where the neck isn’t black (though I’m not sure you would call it “green”, either):
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d0/Anhinga_anhinga_f_1.jpg

3

The neck of a male Anhinga is black, and that of the female is buff. I don’t think they would look very green under any lighting conditions. It would be very unusual for one to be sitting on a rock at the beach. They are usually along rivers or in swamps.

The only Anhinga-shaped bird that might be sitting on a rock on a beach in Florida would be a Double-crested Cormorant, but they are also mainly black.

I’m a little confused by you’re reference to “wading bird proportions,” since the Anhinga isn’t a wading bird. Did it have long legs like a wading bird, or short ones like an Anhinga?

There is no wading bird in Florida with a green neck. The Glossy Ibis and Green Heron are greenish on the back, but not on the neck.

4

Good point (and you’re the go-to expert in these parts on the topic). I’ve seen several anhingas during visits to Florida, but it’s always been while we’ve been inland (usually while driving through swampy areas).

5

If the neck was green, what was the colour of the rest of the plumage?

6

In the right light, a Tricolored Heron’s neck might look dark-greenish.

Also, here in Florida, the best place to find lizards is everywhere.

7

Quoted for truth…we spent a week at a resort in Orlando last September and spent a lot of time playing “Spot the Anole” on the landscaped patio. That and trying to avoid stepping on them as they crisscrossed the paths.

8

That’s why I decided it wasn’t an anhinga that just looked greenish in the light. I think it had a long neck and bill. Come to think of it, its tail and wings were covering most of its legs, the way it was sitting. Long tail.

I think the whole thing was dark green, it was just that the neck really stood out for me. Maybe it was greener than the rest, or the sun was hitting it.

All right, change that to “What’s the best temperature?” (answer: higher than it is now, apparently)
Maybe my mysterious bird was an out-of-area guy that got lost. The lifeguard did say he didn’t know what it was and he hadn’t seen others like it.

9

That’s what I thought it might be. It is described as having a green sheen in breeding season and the top right picture in the gallery on this page shows a distinctly green head and neck.