This Anhinga dries his feathers on a branch in Emerson Point Park, Palmetto, Fl.

Our cold snap was one for the record books. Lizards fell from trees in a comatose state. Foot-and-a-half-long snook died because the Gulf of Mexico waters turned too cold to support them. Farmers who watered their crops in an attempt to create an insulating coating of ice on their strawberries and oranges sucked so much water from the aquifer that we now are being plagued by dozens of sinkholes so large that entire houses are dropping 40 feet into the earth. I saw a picture on television the other day in which a 50-foot high oak tree had plummeted vertically about 40 feet and only the top branches could be seen.

That being said, it has warmed sufficiently that Jo and I were able to venture out on our canoe again. We took a trail through the red mangrove bushes at the end of a spit of land, and poked our way through the sun-dappled waters where very few fish were jumping. We came up many water birds, though. They must be hungry since their meal of fish has been so depleted. But they seemed pretty happy up in the branches.

The anhinga is a beautiful, pre-historic-type bird with his snake-like neck and mahogany-brown feathers. He has the difficult problem that he needs to dive and swim under water for long periods of time, seeking his prey. His feathers do not have enough oils embedded in them and, as a result, his underwater sojourns result in his getting waterlogged. This makes it very difficult for him to take off from the water. So you always will see anhingas perched on branches with their wings out, airing them in the warming sun. This is the only way they can return to diving and feeding.

We saw 8-10 osprey, fluttering like helicopters at 100-200 feet and looking down with their eagle eyes to survey the fish scene. They drop out of the skies like a bomb when they spot their fish. I remember 60 years ago in Scotland that only five osprey were left in the country. They had been killed off by DDT, which caused the egg shells to crack prematurely. It is to our credit as humans that we've managed to bring this magnificent bird back from extinction.