Oriental Darter

A waterbird with a very long, slender, snakelike neck and a long, pointed bill. Breeding adults have a shiny black body with silvery-white streaks along the wings, a brownish crown and neck, and a white stripe running from the eye to the side of the neck. Nonbreeding and immature plumage is duller and browner. Frequently seen swimming with only its neck and head visible above the water. Impales fish underwater with its daggerlike bill. Like cormorants, often perches upright on a rock, drying itself with outstretched wings. Seen singly or in small groups in inland or coastal water bodies. Frequently soars. Usually silent.

In Sri Lanka, the Oriental Darter primarily inhabits shallow freshwater wetlands like lakes, slow-moving rivers, swamps, and reservoirs, often found near forested margins or islets with dense vegetation, where they can perch on trees or bamboo thickets while foraging for fish underwater; they can also be seen in some coastal areas with mangroves and lagoons depending on water conditions.

In Sri Lanka, the Oriental Darter primarily feeds on fish which it spears underwater using its long, sharp beak, with its diet also potentially including small amphibians, aquatic insects, and occasionally small reptiles depending on availability in the water body it inhabits; essentially, it's a piscivorous diet focused on fish caught by spearing them underwater.