My like for the cormorant is no secret if you read this blog.  I think they are a cool bird with a prehistoric look to them.  One thing I enjoy when seeing them is watching the way they take off from the water’s surface.  They run across the water getting some speed up as they flap.  I have wanted to get good shots of this for ages but they usually do it a fair distance from the shore.  When they onshore, they launch from whatever they are on.  Fortunately, when out whale watching, we got a cormorant that was very close to the boat before it decided to take off.  I happened to be looking the right way at the time and got something close to what I had been after.  It was backlit but still close.  I’ll still be hoping for something better but this was a good result for me.