Double-Crested Cormorant Sometimes the most ordinary bird can surprise you, when you stop for a close look! Like this Double-crested Cormorant, Phalacrocorax auratus. It was not at all bothered by my close proximity or the clicking of the camera shutter. Judging by the pale neck and chest and dingy appearance, this is a juvenile Double-crested Cormorant. Here’s the typical adult plumage… Cormorants are as common along the coast as seagulls or pelicans. But they are basically ignored and given unflattering descriptive names such as “water turkey,” “water buzzard,” and “crow-duck.” Doesn’t this cormorant resemble some sort of prehistoric sea creature? Up-close, the bird’s eyes are an opalescent shade of blue-green. If you’re lucky, you might get a look inside a cormorant’s open mouth. It’s bright blue inside! The cormorant’s big floppy feet give it a rather comical stance on land. Yet those webbed membranes between the four toes provide this water bird with its special superpower… an extraordinary mobility underwater. These birds are most remarkable once in the water. They can stay underwater for more than a minute, using their webbed feet to propel them into the depths to catch fish and other aquatic animals. The bird has to maneuver the fish into a position to swallow it whole. After fishing, while resting on a piling or other such man-made structure, the bird’s feathers need to be dried. Their plumage is not waterproof like that of a duck. If it was, they’d be too buoyant. This is a wet bird… So, they dry their soggy plumage by spreading their wings wide in the sun, displaying the iconic cormorant wing-spreading pose. Cormorants choose the most interesting places to sit, either individually or in groups. Channel markers are a favorite, but almost anything will do… Traveling in flocks you can see them heading for the outer banks at sunset daily, flying in classic V formations. The cormorant has not always received scorn. It was honored in a special way in the twentieth century. Of all birds, it was chosen to serve as an elegant hood ornament for the Packard automobile (touring sedan) of the 1930’s and 1940’s. Portrayed in a regal manner with up-swept wings, it presented a symbol of the car’s sleekness. If you liked this article, here are some other water birds that might be of interest… Coastal Lawn Ornaments >>Coastal Sun Bathers >>Grub Hunters >>Winter Loons and Mergansers >>Long-legged Waders >>Encountering Green Herons >>Night-stalker of the Boardwalk >> Please follow and like: Share this:FacebookXLike this:Like Loading... Post navigation A Killdeer FamilyYucatan Shorebirds