Send in your good wildlife photos, please. We haven’t missed a day for lack of photos ever, as I recall, and I don’t want to start now.
Today we have bird photos from reader Bob Fritz, whose captions are indented.
Cormorant bird photos from La Jolla, California. The birds congregate in large numbers along the rocks and cliffs. There are also some sea lions on the rocks.
The Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus) gets its name from the plumage found on breeding adults.
These two were having some kind of dispute which caught the attention of the surrounding birds.
Cormorants do not have a lot of oil in their feathers and therefore must spread their wings in the sun to dry them out.
They are quick in the air, and it took me many attempts to capture one in flight. Before digital photography I would have used a lot of rolls of film to get this shot!
Sometimes these birds can appear almost prehistoric.
During breeding season the Brandt’s Cormorant (Phalacrocorax penicillatus) has a blue pouch. The eyes are incredible!
Nesting Brandt’s Cormorants.
We watched this one display courtship behavior without success – no mate arrived. Hopefully the efforts were eventually rewarded!
A beautiful selection. From among how many hundreds were these chosen?
Lovely photos – and those cormorants’ eyes are indeed incredible!
Yes
Great colors in the soft tissues and eye! Beautiful photos of a bird that is rarely thought of as photogenic.
Great photos and great birds.
Wow! Those are terrific. I had lived in La Jolla many years ago, but I never saw scenes like this.
Love these crazy birds. We see the double crested cormorants here on the Snake River. Great divers and swimmers.
It’s nice to see such a large group of healthy cormorants. I really love sea birds and cormorants are at the top of the list. Thanks for sharing these wonderful photos.
Very lovely birds & coast 😁
Thanks for sharing these gorgeous photos, Bob. Yes, those bejewelled blue eyes are incredible!