Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus)
Double-crested cormorants are making a comeback on Lake Ontario. Now that the lake has been cleaned up of many toxic contaminants and certain pesticides such as DDT are no longer legal, cormorants have returned in LARGE numbers every year to spend approximately six months on the Great Lakes. This makes many fishers unhappy as they blame cormorants for the decline of certain fish, especially small-mouth bass.
Balancing and drying its wings
Strange but true, even though cormorants are excellent divers, their wings are not waterproof. This means they must spread their wings out to let them dry after swimming and fishing.
Another view
I am connecting to Stewart M's Wild Bird Wednesday HERE
35 comments:
I'm trying to figure out why the bird is called "double crested". Interesting that they must dry their wings.
Darla
I'm trying to figure out why the bird is called "double crested". Interesting that they must dry their wings.
Darla
A fact I found out when I started taking shots of our cormorants here EG. At first I thought they were just posing for me :) before I realized they do it all the time..devilishly good fishers.
Looks very proud.
i think they are very handsome. we occasionally get one on our pond here in texas. :)
I too think they are handsome. Ww saw a few up on Georgian Bay.
As I understand things, we have mostly anhingas down here, but I'm not sure I could tell the difference. Cormorants do spread their wings to dry, but anhingas spread for body heat regulation, etc., as well. They are so much fun to watch!
excellent close up of these amazing birds. i love to see them with wings spread. we have a lot of these here in our preserves
Great job on the photos and I particularly loved the second one.
I often see them with their wings spread. It makes for a pretty picture. I did not realize the wings weren't waterproof.
Amazing pictures. This is another one of those birds that has evaded me as far as good pictures are concerned.
Wiem , że rybacy nie lubią kormoranów, ale trudno muszą sie z nimi podzielić rybami. Zdjecia śliczne. Pozdrawiam.
I know you do not like the cormorant fishermen, but it is difficult to have to share with them the fish. Photos beautiful. Yours.
Wonderful images of a beautiful bird species..
I've seen large flocks of a few hundred cormorants flying over Lake Ontario. They usually fly low below the horizon and can be hard to see.
There certainly are a lot of them down by Burlington and Hamilton!
So nice they're experiencing a comeback!
I always like watching the cormorants drying out their wings.
Great photos. I especially like the lighting in the first one.
They're beautiful birds.
I like these guys. Fun to watch them fishing and then drying off. Great shots of them!
I always enjoy seeing them airing out their wings. Great captures of the Cormorants!
They are large birds. I like to watch them. Since I don't fish, I'm OK with them!!!!
Well, I did not know that...how strange!
Beautiful shots and interesting facts on cormorants.
Beautiful shots and interesting facts on cormorants.
I had no idea about their wings! I'll be watching the next batch of them with new eyes:)
Love the photo where he is standing on the post drying his wings. I had no idea they needed to do that.
What wonderful photos! We have a lot of those birds here in Florida...they are so big and majestic! Hugs!
Great captures! Amazing wing span!
Beautiful wing span and great looking birds.
While your first photo is a great portrait of the cormorant, I really like the pictures of the birds drying their wings.
I can't imagine how you can get such perfection every time you point your lens at something. It must be very satisfying. I admire cormorants just because they have such an officious name---you can't imagine being sassy to a cormorant.
Lovely shots. Not a bird I've seen before.
Great captures of these beautiful birds.
I don't know why, but these birds fascinate me.
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