Double-Crested Cormorant

The Double-crested Cormorant's diet consists mainly of fish, and to catch them it swims and dives underwater, sometimes to depths of several meters. (Much of the lake is shallow, especially around the shoreline. But it was a quarry before it became a public park in 1982 and there are two deep spots of 36' and 43'.) Remarkably, Cormorants can stay submerged for up to a minute (longer than I can). But their feathers aren't waterproof, so they air-dry their wings by holding them open or flapping them. The middle photo and the bottom movie show exactly that behavior.

Dozens of Cormorants used to perch together on a great Sycamore tree that once stood in the pond behind the Santa Clara Water Department building on Almaden Expressway. That tree isn't there anymore, but somewhere I have pictures of it from years past. I remember taking them because it looked pretty ominous seeing all those black birds perched together with their wings outspread and looking like they were ready to pounce on something.

[Top photo: Double-Crested Cormorant (black) (Phalacrocorax auritus), landing next to a Snowy Egret (white). Canadian Geese are in the forground. Click photo to enlarge.]

[Middle photo: Two Cormorants-one drying his wings. Click to enlarge.]

[Bottom movie: Cormorant flaps his wings violently to air-dry them.]





Taken today.