Tag Archives: cormorant

The Cormorant Beats Me Again

One of my goals for going to the air show at Abbotsford this year was to see a Cormorant fly.  I know this would sound like my normal interest in the bird species but this time it means the AW101 version that is flown for Search and Rescue by Canada.  Sure, I have seen plenty of 101s over the years with the British and Italian examples, but I have never seen a Canadian one before.  It was due to display during the show.  When I got there, I was delighted to see it sitting on the operating ramp.

However, my optimism was unjustified.  There was no announcement during the show about what had happened to the SAR demo, but it just didn’t happen.  The day shows did get the demo, but the Friday evening show was a no go.  It was a fun show, so I wasn’t too disappointed, but it was a little frustrating to still have never seen a Cormorant airborne.  One day…

Cormorant Nest On The Dolphin

A recent post showed some of the closest shots I have yet got of cormorants.  What I didn’t originally realize when I was shooting them but which soon became apparent was that the structure was not just a place to hang out for them.  A pair of birds had built a nest within the metalwork.  At first, this was a little obscured from where I was and hard to see.  As the ferry moved out, though, I was able to get a good view of the nest.  The main area was shaded from the sun, understandably, but it was still possible to get some shots.

As Close As I Have Got To Cormorants

There are no prizes if you know that one of my favorite birds is the cormorant.  They are just so cool in my eyes.  I am constantly struggling to get good shots of them as they are pretty reticent about being close to humans.  Who would have thought any wildlife would view us suspiciously?  One place that they do like to hang out is the structure around ferry terminals.  They are isolated from the land so have a measure of protection.  They can also go straight in to the water whenever they need to fish.

I got the camera ready when we boarded the ferry in case they were close to where we were.  Sometimes the light angle is bad, sometimes they happen to be on another structure.  Fortunately, on this trip, I got lucky.  I was really close to them.  The light angles were not ideal but it was still pretty good compared to anything I have ever got before.  The sides of the ferry are open so there is the risk that you can spook them.  However, there is something about the boat that seems to be less concerned about your presence.  It is a bit like seeing deer when you are in a car and looking out of the window.

Waterfront Birds

Walking along the shore at Edmonds, a few birds were flying around near me.  I did get a cormorant which is good and, while I don’t know many birds, I think some of these might be mergansers.  Anyone into their birds that can confirm or deny?

Cormorant Having Dinner

The shallow waters near the new ferry terminal at Mukilteo seemed to be a popular spot for the local cormorants to hunt.  For a while, there was one cormorant almost directly below me that seemed to be having a pretty successful time fishing.  A couple of times I saw it pop up and swallow something large so I spent a bit of time tracking it waiting for it to return again.  Sure enough, it popped to the surface holding a rather large looking fish.

I am not a fish expert so I don’t know what it was.  I just know it was still struggling to get away and, given the size, I was curious as to whether the bird would be able to eat it.  I clearly underestimated its capabilities as a couple of quick adjustments and the whole thing went down in one go.  I waited for it to dive again but, having had a few decent sized snacks, it was clearly letting its lunch go down.  It was a while before it dived again.  Just before it did, a bloom in the water led me to believe that it was making space for its next course.

Cormorant Posing for Me

We went out for lunch at Ray’s Boathouse one Saturday afternoon.  It was not a great day, weather wise, with fog covering Puget Sound.  I didn’t take the big camera with me but I did take the M6 along just in case there was something to see.  In front of our table on their deck was a piling which had a gull sitting on it when we got there.  The gull soon flew off and then it was replaced by a cormorant!  It must have been especially for me!  It was drying its wings after its swim and I got a few shots of it while sitting at the table.  I could have run to the car to grab the big lens but that would have interrupted our lunch a little too much!

Cormorants on the Dock

How long is it since I have had a cormorant post?  Too long, that’s how long.  Taking trips on the ferries means you can get quite close to the cormorants on the pilings in the water alongside which the ferries berth.  Of course, whenever they are close by, I don’t have a camera to hand.  One part of the dock did have a ton of them resting on it so, given my recent dearth of cormorant shots, I felt I had to do it.

Sunbathing Cormorant

I had finished up a shoot and was driving back towards home but decided to divert to Kenmore.  The evening light was looking good and I thought some floatplanes might be returning to base.  By the time I got to Kenmore, it must have too late as I didn’t see any planes.  However, there was a cormorant sitting on one of the posts near the end of the jetty.  As the sun set, he was stretching out his wings to gather maximum warmth.  How could I resist yet another cormorant shot?

Cormorant Take Off

It’s been a while since I had a cormorant post on this blog so time to have another one.  This one is to showcase something I love about watching cormorants but that I hadn’t got good images of.  When cormorants take off from the water they start flapping and running across the surface.  They take quite a while to get up to a speed at which they can sustain flight.  This trip across the surface usually is too far away to get a good shot of, even if you do spot them in time to get the camera on target.

However, if you are in a boat and the boat approaches the cormorant, you might spook it into taking off.  They are pretty resilient creatures so may just float on by and ignore you but sometimes they will take off.  Then, if you notice in time and the camera is to hand, you might get the takeoff sequence.  They hop from wave crest to wave crest as they flap and accelerate and then they are flying. You can also lose a little weight before take off to improve performance!

It’s a Cluster of Cormorants!

This was an evening that I was out hunting planes.  I did have some success, but I got a lot more shots of birds than planes.  The cormorants were out in numbers and they obviously know I like them.  Log Boom Park in Kenmore has a concrete pier that goes well out into the lake.  At the end of the pier are pilings from a previous version of the pier.  They provide a nice spot for birds to rest and the cormorants had taken over the place.

The light was not in a good place for getting a photo but it was still worthy of a shot or two.  Some of the cormorants were stretching their wings to dry out.  They have a prehistoric look about them at the best of times but when they stretch the wings out, they really do look like a pterodactyl.  The concentrated group of cormorants were in a bad spot for the light but, fortunately, one of them was feeling antisocial and was on a different post.  The light was a lot better for this guy!