I have long been fascinated by the way that Double-crested Cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus) take off from the water. The cormorants flap their wings and bounce across the surface of the water before they lift off into the air.
Yesterday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge I spotted a cormorant and was just beginning to focus on it when without warning it started to take off. I was happy to be able to capture a short series of images of the cormorant in action that show some of the stages of the cormorant’s takeoff.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
These hang around the marinas where I work, so I get to see their antics regularly. As with coots, making it airborne always seems a little iffy, but they manage.
They seem to need that running start to get airborne–it is fun to see the little spurts of water they create when they “walk” on the water.
Very nice series of Cormorant Take-off images Mike! They are fun to photograph!
They are indeed fun to photograph, though a real challenge due to their skittishness.
Amazing, Mike. We get a cormorant on my local lake but it’s always flown before I get the chance to get my phone camera out.
Thanks, Tricia. The cormorants I see generally tend to be really skittish and take off as soon as they detect my presence. In this case, I was able to react quickly enough to get some shots, though that is not often the case.
It certainly was a great shot. Well done!
Nice action series! I love the way they do that, too!