I do not want to put a big ol’ sour rant before Brad’s post, so I am just going to quickly mention that I am having boatloads of WordPress issues as of late. Not so much on the posting side, rather on the commenting side – particularly commenting on other people’s posts. It’s a crap shoot if it works and for the life of me I am unable to figure it out. This is especially infuriating for a career IT person who earned his early retirement exorcising ghosts in the machine. I’ll update later, but for now, accept my apologies if it appears like I have been ignoring your posts. Where my eyes happen to be blood red, today’s feature has a much more calming and pleasing color. Enjoy another of Brad’s adventures while I round up a Goat for some yoga therapy.
Take it away Brad…
I know, I know. I can hear it now. Not another white wading shorebird. OK. It’s not. I don’t think I’ve ever seen today’s featured feathered friend wading. Not that they don’t wade in very shallow water from time to time. It’s just . . . I’ve never seen them wading. Or swimming. Or diving. Actually, I’ve never seen them doing much of anything except watching the world go by (see Notes). Plenty of sites show them to be very active. I usually see them sitting on a post; or on a rock in the water somewhere. Or at their most vigorous, casually paddling around on the edge of the Mississippi River. In fitting with the theme of recently published stories, our guest today is not a wading shorebird. Nor is it white. It is nearly black, except for piercing emerald green eyes.
Have you guessed our featured feathered friend today?
Hit the jump to reveal the latest “emerald” gem from South Carolina.
It’s the Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus), or DCC for short. At a distance this bird looks completely black. But when you get up close, you can see what looks like intricate patterns on its wings. The wing feathers are slightly lighter in color with a very dark outline, almost like the body of an American Black Duck. Some say the DCC has emerald eyes; others say it’s blue-teal. Either way, with the light just right their eyes are a very intense greenish, emerald-y, blue-teal color. The ID photo on All About Birds could have been the same cormorant we saw sitting on the same post.
The first snaps of the DCC were taken (where else?) at Huntington Beach State Park in South Carolina. As we were scurrying around taking photos of a Great Blue Heron, Little Blue Herons, and various mergansers, this Double-crested Cormorant was sitting on this post about halfway across the causeway. He (or actually it could have been a she) was squawking at anyone who would listen. Jan was capturing it from one side while I took photos from the other. Most of the people on the causeway were walking right by this bird. I have to admit that I ignored it for a while until it started making noise; a very loud attention-grabbing kind of noise. We were able to walk within 10 feet of this bird all afternoon, and it didn’t seem to care in the slightest.
Where’s the double-crest you say? The crest is normally only visible on breeding adults. Either this one was not breeding, or wasn’t quite an adult, or both. Both male and female adults are mostly black, while juveniles are light brown. All have intense green eyes.
Double-crested Cormorants nest in colonies, often on smaller bodies of water. They can fly up to 40 miles each day to feeding areas. No wonder I have seen DCCs on both salt and fresh water; they don’t seem to be too picky. The All About Birds website shows the Lower 48 and the coast of Alaska as their primary range, with small incursions all around the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean Islands, and central and coastal Canada.
Cormorants eat mostly fish, with an occasional insect, crustacean, or small amphibian thrown in for variety. The hook on the end of their bills helps snag their dinner above or below the water. Phew! Once again, photographers are not listed on their preferred menu. With their webbed feet, DCCs are good swimmers, often chasing prey 25 feet or more below the water’s surface. I can’t do that without my ears popping. They can also hold their breath for about two minutes, something else I can’t do.
DCCs don’t have the same oil producing glands other diving birds have. That means their feathers can get water logged, which does help with diving. However, that also means they have to dry out more often. Which is why you will probably see a DCC holding their wings outstretched in the sun to dry.
A pair of adult DCCs can raise 1-7 eggs, once or twice per breeding season. Both help build the nest, either on the ground or in a tree, again, they aren’t too picky. They have been known to steal nesting material from unguarded nests (we’ve seen this behavior). Incubation takes almost four weeks. Chicks hang around for three to four more weeks before striking out on their own. Young cormorants will leave their nests to “play” with other youngsters. However, they know which side their bread is buttered on and return to their own nest when it’s feeding time. With a proper food supply nearby, a DCC can easily live past 20 years in the wild. As always, our goal is to capture birds in their natural environments doing what birds do naturally. Jan was able to capture some very natural behavior. Remember when I said this DCC was making lots of noise earlier?
Now I know what it was complaining about all afternoon.
Thank you for reading. If you want to see more Double-crested Cormorant photos from our South Carolina winter escape, please visit here.
Credits:
Thanks again to Jan and Allyson for proofreading and editing. Thanks to Jan for some of the photos in this article.
Notes:
On a separate trip to Acadia National Park, we spotted this Double-crested Cormorant a few miles out in the Atlantic Ocean. Jan and I were on the return leg of a Puffin Cruise when the boat made a scheduled stop at Egg Island. This is the only time I have actually seen a DCC doing anything besides sitting on a post or floating on the current. It was flying low, only a few feet above the waves, under the fog, near the edge of the island.
There was a break in the fog. I spotted this dark shape flying out of the fog, so I took a few photos between rolls of the boat. Thirty seconds later, fog engulfed the boat again and the island nearly disappeared. The fog was just as thick here as it was where we “saw” the Puffins. I was able to review the photos when we made it back to land, and saw that it was a Double-crested Cormorant. We didn’t see it diving for food, probably because it couldn’t see any better in the fog than we could, even with the Kryptonite colored eyes.
Life Intrigued 