Double-crested Cormorant | Mike Powell

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Cormorant eyes

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, Portraits, spring, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 7D, cormorant, cormorant eyes, Double-crested Cormorant, Kingstowne VA, Phalacrocorax auritus, Tamron 150-600mm on March 19, 2023| 8 Comments »

When the light is coming from the right direction and a Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus) is fairly close, you can catch a glimpse of the bird’s stunning turquoise eyes. Yesterday I was fortunate to spot a cormorant perched on a concrete bar that sticks out of a retention pond in a nearby neighborhood. The cormorant was fairly close to the shore, which meant that I was able to capture some detailed images of the striking bird.

The first image is a simply a crop of the second image that really highlights the cormorant’s eyes. The orange skin on its face really makes those eyes “pop.” The cormorant twisted its body from side to side, stretching its long neck, before finally slipping into the water, as you can see in the final photo. This is the view that I am most accustomed to during my wildlife adventures, though normally the cormorant is a lot farther away from me.

These photos are proof that it is not always necessary to travel to a wildlife refuge to see wildlife—this pond is only about a mile (1.6 km) or so from my suburban townhouse.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Titanic pose

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged Canon 7D, cormorant, Double-crested Cormorant, Nannopterum auritum, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Phalacrocorax auritus, Tamron 150-600mm, Titanic, Woodbridge VA on February 17, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Although it may look like this Double-crested Cormorant (Nannopterum auritum) was trying to recreate the “I’m Flying” scene from the movie Titanic (with Jack and Rose on the bow of the ship), it was simply trying to dry its feathers. It baffles my mind a bit to think that a bird that spends most of its time in the water has feathers that are not waterproof. According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, “They have less preen oil than other birds, so their feathers can get soaked rather than shedding water like a duck’s. Though this seems like a problem for a bird that spends its life in water, wet feathers probably make it easier for cormorants to hunt underwater with agility and speed.”

The little grouping of cormorants that I spotted last Thursday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge looks like a family to me, with two parents and a juvenile, judging from their poses. In case you are curious, the little duck in the left-hand corner is probably a scaup.

As most of you know, I like to include the Latin name for my subjects whenever possible. Some of my readers live in other countries and may encounter the same or similar birds and insects, but know them by their names in their own languages. Strange as it sounds, Latin becomes our common language. According to Wikipedia, the Double-crested Cormorant has a relatively new Latin name. “It was formerly classified in the genus Phalacrocorax, but a 2014 study supported reclassifying it and several American cormorant species into the genus Nannopterum. The International Ornithology Committee followed this classification in 2021.”

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Cormorant dispute

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged Canon 7D, cormorant, Double-crested Cormorant, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Phalacrocorax auritus, Tamron 150-600mm, territorial dispute, Woodbridge VA on February 13, 2023| 7 Comments »

Last Thursday I observed an apparent territorial dispute between two Double-crested Cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus) over a prime perch in the waters off of Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. A third cormorant seemed to be conflict-averse and had turned its back on the loud disagreement.

In many of my photos, the subjects are stationary and the resulting portraits may be pretty, but they are not very exciting. I love it when I am able to capture action, especially when it involves the interaction of multiple subjects. Images like this one tell a story or perhaps they tell multiple stories, depending on your interpretation of the elements in the image.

This image is kind of cool too, because of the pops of orange in the area surrounding the bills of the cormorants. The rest of the image is mostly monochromatic and the viewers’ eyes are inevitably drawn to those brighter colors.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Blue-eyed birds

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 7D, cormorant, Double-crested Cormorant, Kingstowne, Phalacrocorax auritus, Tamron 150-600mm on January 17, 2023| 1 Comment »

Normally Double-crested Cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus) are distant dark-colored waterbirds. However, when the lighting is right, you can sometimes get a good look at their orange-colored faces and their striking blue eyes.

As you can see from these two images that I captured yesterday at a small suburban pond, cormorants tend to ride low in the water. It sounds strange for a bird that spends its time in the water, but the feathers of a cormorant are not completely waterproof and can become waterlogged. That is why you can sometimes spot cormorants perched with their wings spread open in an effort to dry them out.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Cormorant in flight

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged birds in flight, Canon 7D, cormorant, Double-crested Cormorant, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Phalacrocorax auritus, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA on January 2, 2023| 6 Comments »

Normally I see only a few Double-crested Cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus) at a time, but last Thursday I spotted several dozen of them in the waters off of Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. I see cormorants throughout most of the year, but this group may have been migrating through our area and were heading for destinations further south.

I was delighted to be able to capture some in-flight shots of one of the cormorants as it zoomed by, flying low over the water. I was particularly happy to capture enough detail that you can see the bird’s striking aquamarine eyes. I highly recommend that you click on the images to get a better look at the amazing colors of the eyes. Wow! It was a nice bonus to be able to capture the reflection of the cormorant in the water.

As the winter progresses, I hope to be able to hone my skills in tracking birds like this with my long telephoto zoom lens. During the warm months, I use a macro lens a lot and my tracking abilities may have atrophied a bit. It takes some practice for me to be able to be able to find a bird in the camera’s viewfinder when my telephoto lens is fully extended.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Cormorant takeoff

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged Canon 50D, cormorant, Double-crested Cormorant, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Phalacrocorax auritus, takeoff, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA on February 24, 2022| 8 Comments »

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.

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A few birds in Washington

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, Travel, wildlife, tagged Anacortes, Bucephala albeola, bufflehead, canon 55-250mm, Canon SL2, cormorant, Double-crested Cormorant, Phalacrocorax auritus, Regulus calendula, ruby-crowned kinglet, Washington on December 3, 2021| 6 Comments »

I have not had very many opportunities to take wildlife photos during my time here in the state of Washington, so I was particularly delighted when I spotted some birds during a trip to Anacortes on Wednesday.

There were quite a few cormorants hanging around a dock area, including the one in the first photo below. I think it is a Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus), although I am aware that are some additional cormorant species on the West Coast of the US, so I am a little uncertain about my identification.

As I was exploring a lake a little later in the day, I spotted a tiny Ruby-crowned Kinglet (Regulus calendula) in the vegetation. I had a 55-250mm lens on my camera, the longest lens that I brought with me on this trip, so I did not think I would be to get a decent shot of the elusive bird—normally when I am photographing birds I use a 150-600mm lens. I was pretty happy with my kinglet shot, the second image below.

The bird in the final photo is a male Bufflehead duck (Bucephala albeola) that I spotted at the same lake. He was a good distance away, but I managed to capture a hint of his colorful iridescent plumage—you may need to click on the image to get a better look at his coloration.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Local cormorant

Posted in Autumn, Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged Canon 50D, cormorant, Double-crested Cormorant, Kingstowne VA, Phalacrocorax auritus, Tamron 150-600mm, townhouse on December 20, 2020| 14 Comments »

Although we had only about an inch of snow last week, it has hung around on cars and in shady areas. Despite the continuing cold and overcast weather, I decided yesterday that I needed to get outdoors with my camera. I had several places in mind, but my plans were thwarted when I ran into a traffic jam on the interstate. I took the first exit and decided to visit instead a small suburban pond not far from where I live.

Several species of ducks overwinter at this pond and I spotted Hooded Mergansers and Ring-necked Ducks in the center of the pond, out of range of my telephoto zoom lens. As I continued circling the pond on a walking trail, I was thrilled to spot several Double-crested Cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus) standing in the shallow water not far from the shore. Some bushes separated me from the cormorants, so I had to bend and twist a bit to get a clear shot, but I managed to capture this image of one of them before they turned their backs to me and swam away.

The bright orange color of the cormorants’ bills always captures my attention, but it is the beauty of their brilliantly blue eyes that keeps me transfixed. Wow! Be sure to double-click on the photo to get a closer look at that amazing blue color.

As it turned out, I did not need to travel far to find beauty—figuratively speaking it was in my back yard. It would be cool to have an actual pond in my back yard, but it would have to be a tiny one and my townhouse homeowners’ association would certainly complain about it.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Sparkling blue eyes

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged Canon 50D, cormorant, Double-crested Cormorant, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Phalacrocorax auritus, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA on April 21, 2020| 11 Comments »

I never fail to be entranced by the striking blue eyes of a Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus), like this one that I spotted last week at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Most of the time when I spot cormorants, they are in the deep waters and their eyes are too far away to be seen. Even when they are a bit closer, the eyes are often hidden by shadows.

On this occasion, however, the cormorant was in a small pond, so I was able to track it easily after I spotted it. On one of its dives the cormorant popped up within range of my camera and turned into the light for a moment before it submerged itself again, allowing me to get this shot with a clear view of its sparkling blue eyes.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Double-crested Cormorant in December

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Canon 50D, cormorant, Double-crested Cormorant, Kingstowne VA, Phalacrocorax auritus, Tamron 150-600mm on December 10, 2019| 7 Comments »

Most of the birds that I spotted last Thursday at a small pond seemed to be part of a small flock or at least of a couple. This Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus), however, appeared to be the only one of its species. It mostly hung out with a flock of gulls, floating along on the surface of the water.

I observed the cormorant off and on for over an hour and not once did it dive underwater. Most cormorants that I have seen in the past have either been diving or drying out their wings.

Perhaps this cormorant felt the need to feel like it was part of a group, although it clearly stood out from the other members of its chosen group. I personally would agree that conformity is overrated—be yourself. (Speaking of non-conformity, be sure to check out the cormorant’s striking blue eyes.)

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Cormorant taking off

Posted in Autumn, Birds, Halloween, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Canon 50D, cormorant, Double-crested Cormorant, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Phalacrocorax auritus, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA on October 31, 2019| 5 Comments »

Perhaps it is because today is Halloween or because the overcast sky on Tuesday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge caused everything to be shadowy and monochromatic. Whatever the reason, the shape of this Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus) reminds me of a bat, especially in the first image.

I captured these two images as the cormorant was preparing to take off from the water. Unlike some birds that rise straight up, a cormorant has to bounce across the water to gain enough momentum for liftoff, which is why you can see the splashes of water behind the cormorant in both shots.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Silhouette of a cormorant

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, Summer, wildlife, tagged Canon SX50, cormorant, Double-crested Cormorant, Horn Pond, Phalacrocorax auritus, Woburn MA on June 30, 2019| 6 Comments »

Early Friday morning I spotted this Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus) at Horn Pond in Woburn, Massachusetts. Although the bird’s facial features were in the shadows, I was happy to be able to capture its distinctive hooked beak in this silhouetted view.

As many of you know, I try to find opportunities to capture nature images even when I am traveling. On Thursday I drove from Virginia to Massachusetts to attend a surprise 60th birthday party on Friday evening for one of my brothers. Although I was somewhat worn out from the drive, which took almost 12 hours thanks to numerous road construction projects and rush hour traffic in Boston, I was out on the trails of Horn Pond by 6:30 in the morning. In many ways immersing myself in nature helps to recharge my batteries as much as sleep does.

A few seconds after I spotted the cormorant, it sensed my presence and flew away. I was anticipating that it might do so and was able to capture this shot just as the bird was starting to take off.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Shipwrecked

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged Canon 50D, Cast Away, cormorant, Double-crested Cormorant, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Phalacrocorax auritus, Tamron 150-600mm, Tom Hanks, Wilson, Woodbridge VA on December 24, 2018| 2 Comments »

As the waves washed over the Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus) perched on a floating remnant of a tree, the solo bird looked like a shipwrecked sailor, adrift on a swamped, semi-submerged sailboat. My mind conjured up scenes from different movies with this theme.

A short time later, I encountered a basketball dashing up against the shore with each successive wave. As the ball slowly turned I caught sight of its faded lettering. Like Tom Hank’s companion in the movie Cast Away, the ball was labelled “Wilson.” Perhaps the shipwrecked cormorant had been engaging in lengthy conversations with this Wilson, as Tom Hanks did during the movie.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Family of cormorants

Posted in Autumn, Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Canon 50D, cormorant, Double-crested Cormorant, family of cormorants, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Phalacrocorax auritus, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA on October 18, 2018| 5 Comments »

I spotted this little family of Double-crested Cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus) in the waters off of Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge this past Monday. The adult seemed bothered by something and initIally cried out before finally taking off, leaving the younger cormorants temporarily by themselves.

I am not actually completely certain that this is a family unit, but I think it is a pretty safe assumption when I look at the way that the smaller ones are paying attention to the larger cormorant. It also appears to me that the the adult was potentially reacting to a perceived threat and flew off as a way of protecting the younger ones.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Juvenile cormorant

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged Canon 50D, cormorant, Double-crested Cormorant, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Phalacrocorax auritus, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA on May 24, 2018| 6 Comments »

Cormorants are usually really skittish. Even when they are fishing far away from the shore, they will usually take off as soon as they sense my presence. When I spotted the unmistakable silhouette of a cormorant perched on the remnants of a duck blind in the waters off of Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge this past Monday, I fully expected that it would fly away before I got within range to take a decent shot.

As I was approaching, I could see that it was a juvenile Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus)—juveniles are paler around the neck and breast than adults and have more exposed orange skin around the bill. Perhaps this young cormorant had not yet developed a fear of humans, but whatever the reasons was, the beautiful blue-eyed bird remained in place as I took some shots from different angles and was still there when I silently moved away.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Semi-submerged Cormorant

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged Canon 50D, cormorant, Double-crested Cormorant, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Phalacrocorax auritus, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA on March 31, 2018| 1 Comment »

Its heavy weight and non-waterproof feathers cause the Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus) to float really low on the water. The cormorant that I spotted yesterday in the waters off of Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, however, was even lower than usual, with most of its body almost completely submerged.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Cormorant silhouette

Posted in Art, Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Canon 50D, cormorant, Double-crested Cormorant, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Phalacrocorax auritus, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA on January 29, 2018| 6 Comments »

Reduced to its essence, photography is all about light and shadows. Sometimes details are not even necessary to evoke a mood, a sense of the moment, as in this image of a Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus) that I captured this past Friday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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A big catch

Posted in Birds, Humor, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, cormorant, Double-crested Cormorant, Lake Cook, Phalacrocorax auritus, Tamron 150-600mm on March 19, 2017| 4 Comments »

This Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus) was focusing so intently on the water yesterdy that I thought it was stalking a fish. I was initially shocked at the size of the fish that it pulled out of the water until I realized that it was only a large leaf.

The cormorant waved the leaf around proudly until it finally let go of the leaf. Obviously this bird has a policy of “catch and release.”

Undeterred, the cormorant went back to fishing—I never did see him land one, but he might have been catching small fish during his dives.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Cormorant on the rocks

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, cormorant, Double-crested Cormorant, Lake Cook, Phalacrocorax auritus, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on March 3, 2017| 2 Comments »

A new alcoholic beverage? No, in this case, the title of my blog posting is literal.

When I first spotted this Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus) on Monday, I thought it was wading in the water. Looking more closely, I realized it was standing on the rocks, giving us a really good view of its dark, webbed feet.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Immature cormorant

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife, Winter, tagged Alexandria VA, canon 50, cormorant, Double-crested Cormorant, Lake Cook, Phalacrocorax auritus, Tamron 150-600mm on February 11, 2017| Leave a Comment »

The plumage of the Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus) is pretty drab, but it helps to make its beautiful orange bill and spectacular blue eyes stand out even more. I spotted this immature cormorant—adults have darker-colored breast feathers—yesterday afternoon at Lake Cook in Alexandria, Virginia. The cormorant was standing still in shallow water and seemed to be trying to absorb some warmth from the intermittent sun on a cold and windy day, with temperatures just above freezing.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Spread your wings and dry

Posted in Art, Birds, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife, Winter, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, cormorant, Double-crested Cormorant, Lake Cook, Phalacrocorax auritus, Tamron 150-600mm on January 29, 2017| 3 Comments »

On a visit yesterday to Lake Cook, a tiny body of water not far from where I live in Northern Virginia, I was thrilled to spot an immature Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus). These prehistoric-looking water birds have feathers that are not completely waterproof, so periodically they have to extend their impressively large wings to dry them out.

Most of the cormorants that I have seen in the past have been on the much larger Potomac River, but this solitary one seemed content to paddle about among the geese and ducks that had congregated on this small pond. It was nice finally to have a day with some sunshine and I spent a pretty long time observing the cormorant. One of the coolest things for me about these birds is their spectacular blue eyes, which you can just make out in the image below, especially if you double click it to view it at a higher resolution.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Cormorant silhouettes

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, birds in flight, Canon 50D, cormorant, Double-crested Cormorant, Dyke Marsh Wildlife Preserve, Phalacrocorax auritus, Tamron 150-600mm on October 21, 2016| 3 Comments »

Generally it’s best to have the sun behind you when taking photos, but sometimes you are forced to shoot almost directly into the sun. When the conditions are right you can sometimes get wonderful silhouettes, like these images of Double-crested Cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus) that I spotted on the Potomac River near Dyke Marsh in Alexandria, Virginia this past Monday.

The shot of the perched cormorant was a conscious composition—I assessed the light and knew that I was shooting a silhouette. In the case of the flying cormorant, however, I was reacting to the movement of a bird taking off from the water and trying so hard to hard to capture focus and keep the bird in focus that I was not paying much conscious attention to the lighting.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Cormorant on the Potomac River

Posted in Autumn, Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, cormorant, Double-crested Cormorant, Dyke Marsh, Dyke Marsh Wildlife Preserve, Phalacrocorax auritus, Potomac River, Tamron 150-600mm on October 18, 2016| 9 Comments »

Yesterday I spotted this beautiful Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus) in the vegetation along the shore of the Potomac River as I explored Dyke Marsh Wildlife Preserve in Alexandria, Virginia. Although “heavy-boned” is a euphemism sometimes used for large people, it is literally true for cormorants and is one of the reasons why they ride so low in the water. Additionally, their feathers don’t shed water like those of ducks and can get waterlogged, which makes it easier to dive deeper, but requires them to dry them out periodically.

I hoped to catch a cormorant with its wings extended for drying, but none of the cormorants I saw were accommodating in that regard yesterday. I’m no psychic, but I foresee a return trip to that area in the near future.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Drying out its wings

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife, Winter, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, cormorant, Double-crested Cormorant, Kingstowne, Phalacrocorax auritus, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on January 4, 2015| 8 Comments »

I will sometimes see other birds open their wings and stretch them out for a moment, but the Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus) is the only bird that I have observed that leaves its wings open for an extended period of time.

Initially I was confused when I heard the cormorant had to dry out its wings because they got waterlogged. How does a waterbird survive if its wings are not waterproof?

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, my favorite website for information about birds, provides the following explanation of this phenomenon:

“They have less preen oil than other birds, so their feathers can get soaked rather than shedding water like a duck’s. Though this seems like a problem for a bird that spends its life in water, wet feathers probably make it easier for cormorants to hunt underwater with agility and speed.”

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Blue-eyed Cormorant

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife, Winter, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, cormorant, Double-crested Cormorant, Kingstowne, Phalacrocorax auritus, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto on December 28, 2014| 8 Comments »

Double-crested Cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus) are strange-looking waterbirds that sit really low in the water. I’ve seen them from time to time, but until yesterday, when I saw this one at a small suburban retention pond, I never knew that they have striking blue eyes.

One of the other unusual things about this bird is that they spend a good amount of time outside of the water drying out their wings. Despite being a diving bird, the cormorant’s feathers do not shed water as well as a duck’s, for example, and they can get soaked pretty quickly.

I took some photos of the cormorant drying its wings that I will post later, but I wanted to post the image of the cormorant resting on one leg, because it shows off the blue eyes (and I like the reflection).

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Startled cormorant

Posted in Autumn, Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 50D, Canon 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens, cormorant, Double-crested Cormorant, Lake Cook, Phalacrocorax auritus on October 21, 2014| 5 Comments »

As I slowly made my way through the tall grass on the lake shore, my eyes were focused on the low-hanging branches where I had seen a Belted Kingfisher earlier in the day. Suddenly the water exploded at my feet.

I was startled and so was the Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus) that scrambled into action and started moving across the surface of the water. The cormorant had apparently been resting or feeding at the water’s edge and had not heard me approach. It was interesting to see the cormorant move—it rose up a bit and seemed to walk across the water and then settled back into the water once it was a good distance away from me.

The action happened so quickly and in an unexpected location that I initially had trouble framing my shots. This is my favorite of the ones in which I managed to get the entire cormorant in the frame. I especially like the details that you can see on the wings. As I was working on the image, it was interesting to note that there are almost no colors in the shot, except for the bird’s bill. When I adjusted the hue and saturation, for example, almost nothing changed.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Cormorant in the air

Posted in Art, Birds, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife, tagged birds in flight, Canon 50D, Canon 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens, cormorant, Double-crested Cormorant, Phalacrocorax auritus, Potomac River on November 10, 2013| 19 Comments »

Two weeks ago I didn’t even realize that we had Double-crested Cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus) in this area and now I can find quite a number of them on the Potomac River. It’s a little difficult to tell from the range maps in my bird guide if the cormorants are migrating through this area of if they may choose to winter here.

The more I observe these birds, the stranger they appear. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology described them this way—”The gangly Double-crested Cormorant is a prehistoric-looking, matte-black fishing bird with yellow-orange facial skin. Though they look like a combination of a goose and a loon, they are relatives of frigatebirds and boobies and are a common sight around fresh and salt water across North America.”

I am still working on getting some shots of the cormorants in the water, but as a start, here are a couple of images of a cormorant in the air. I took the first one before I knew that it was a cormorant—I have a habit of trying to capture anything in flight that is remotely in range. The second one shows a cormorant as he is taking off from the water after some bounding steps across the surface as he gained speed. The location of the light caused much of the cormorant’s body to be in the shadows, but did illuminate the details of some of its feathers.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Fine feathered friends

Posted in Art, Birds, Humor, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Ardea herodias, Canon 50D, Canon 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens, cormorant, Double-crested Cormorant, fine feathered friends, Great Blue Heron, heron, Kingstowne, Phalacrocorax auritus on November 4, 2013| 8 Comments »

Who knew that the man-made pond in a nearby suburban neighborhood would be a favorite spot for juvenile birds to hang out together? That’s what it looked like when I spotted an immature Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus) and an immature Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) together, both with their heads turned in profile, probably checking out some cute little female goose.

Actually, I couldn’t immediately identify the cormorant, though it was obvious that it was neither a duck or a goose. The way that it swam with its long neck extended and its bill pointed in the air, however, was distinctive enough to make it easy to find in my identification guide.

I like the way that these two birds posed for me, with the cormorant perched on a narrow concrete slab to compensate for the heron’s greater height and the synchronized head positions. I have seen this young heron hanging around the pond before (it’s the same heron that I featured in the Crouching heron posting this morning), but I don’t think that I have seen a cormorant there before. Usually there are only geese and occasionally some ducks, like the small flock of Ring-necked ducks that are there right now.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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