they’re specialist divers and fish hunters, and they’re a pretty wide group with a LOT of species!
and they’re all freaks. every single one of them.
they’re most closely related to FLAMINGOS, of all things, which is why their feet are so weird! they evolved completely separate from other waterfowl like ducks and geese, so they did the flipper thing totally backwards.
this is going to be a theme, nothing these birds do is normal.
unlike other specialist diving birds (coughcough LOONS coughcough), they aren’t totally incompetent on land! just, again. total freaks about it.
aaagh I love them so much I might actually explode
also they swim like frogs, babies can dive pretty much immediately after hatching, and adults can minutely adjust their buoyancy in the water at will like a fucking submarine. you just can’t make any of this shit up.
weirdest fucking bird 100/10
also for emphasis on that last point: you’re out on a river and you see a smallish brown duck-thing paddling around in the water. it makes eye contact with you and then just. fuckign sinks.
sorry for the intrusion but the fact that these birds were using their magical buoyancy powers to gaslight you specifically is the funniest fucking thing i’ve ever heard
