African Darter (Anhinga rufa)

Family
Anhingidae (Darters)

Size
85 - 97 cm

First Described (Guide)
(Daudin, 1802)

Habitat
Inland wetlands, including, large freshwater lakes, rivers, streams, saline and brackish lagoons, estuaries, marshes, swamps, bogs, fens, peatlands and subtropical and tropical lowland moist forest and mangroves.

Range (Guide)

Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo [The Democratic Republic of the], Congo [The Democratic Republic of the], C�te dIvoire, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-bissau (B), Iran [Islamic Republic of] (NB), Iraq (B) (NB), Israel (E), Jordan (E) (NB), Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania [United Republic of] (B), Turkey (E) (B), Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

Vagrant to Comoros, Egypt, Kuwait.

Rarity Status
Currently this species is not classified as a rarity in this country OR information has not been updated.

Population
Estimated population is 27,000 - 130,000 (2010).

Status LC
Destruction of habitat, pollution, exploitation are the main threats.

For more information see BirdLife International Species Factsheet.

Voice
Xeno-Canto Sound Files (more (8)...)

African Darter (Anhinga rufa) [XC53995]
by Nature sounds by Simply Birding from Rietvlei Nature Reserve, South Africa (call)

African Darter (Anhinga rufa) [XC326628]
by Lynette Rudman from Port Alfred, Western District, Eastern Cape, South Africa (call)

Subspecies
Oriental Darter (Anhinga melanogaster), Darter (Anhinga novaehollandiae) and African Darter (Anhinga rufa) are considered separate species by BirdLife International contra Christidis and Boles (1994), Turbott (1990), Cramp and Simmons (1977-1994), Vol. I and AERC TAC (2003), who all include rufa and novaehollandiae as subspecies of Anhinga melanogaster.

Considered by some authors to be a subspecies of Oriental Darter (Anhinga melanogaster).

The following 3 subspecies are recognised:

rufa (Daudin, 1802) - Subsaharan Africa, Madagascar, Near East. Considered by some authors to be a subspecies of Oriental Darter (Anhinga melanogaster).
vulsini Bangs, 1918 - Madagascar. Considered by some authors to be a subspecies of Oriental Darter (Anhinga melanogaster).
chantrei (Oustalet, 1882) - Formerly south-central Turkey, south-eastern Iraq.

References
See References.

Files:

JPG files for African Darter (Anhinga rufa) - 10 files

More Information

BirdLife International

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BirdLife International Species Factsheet.

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