The Story of Stubbornness and Bravery

A small island of dry branches and dirt.  A young cormorant is basking in the sun.  Suddenly, out of nowhere, a curious and impudent adult cormorant approaches the island.

The island is small, but that doesn't stop the adult bird.  Wet and so funny he immediately takes up all the space and starts drying his wings. 

The adult cormorant acts as if the small island belongs to him, pushing the young bird to the edge of the island.

Spreading its wings the young bird showing with all its posture that it is not going to leave this place under any circumstances.  

What happened next?  Stubbornness and bravery of a young cormorant won!  The  adult bird left the island.

I photographed this story on the Bear River MBR.

Generally, life is good.

Double-crested Cormorant Before Sunrise

Cormorants have arrived on the Bear River MBR and it's great to see them again.

Generally, life is good.

Excellent Diver

Double-crested Cormorants are excellent deep divers and can plunge as deep as 45 meters and stay in the water for a long time. When Cormorants emerged from the water, they immediately spread their wings to dry them. 

Generally, life is good.

Double-crested Cormorant with Golden Wings

 

I photographed this Cormorant a year ago at the Bear River MBR. He was drying his wings in the water before taking off.  

At some point, the sun came out from behind the clouds and the bird’s wings suddenly turned golden for just a split second. You never know what surprise nature may give you.

When cormorants spread their wings wide, they become majestic.

 

Generally, life is good.

A Traveler - I.

Seeing a Double-crested Cormorant perching on a log in our local park this morning was a huge surprise. I'm still trying to figure out where he came from.

  

I assume that Cormorant left the nearest large pond and flew off to spend time with our geese and ducks.

Life goes on.

Double-crested Cormorant Enjoys The Cool Early Morning

Utah is hot and it seems that the heat wave we are experiencing right now isn't going to subside.  Today is 102° F but it feels even hotter because we are in the middle of extreme drought. 

This morning at the end of my trip to Bear River I found the Double-crested Cormorant who took a break from fishing and enjoyed a few early fairly cool hours.

Generally, life is good!

A Sense of Time and Space

During several times at the end of May I saw a group of Cormorants who were staying on the same log at precisely the same time.  Their sense of time was so strong. Cormorants knew for how long they would stay on the log and when it was time to leave.  That was so amazing!

Every Cormorant had its own way of leaving the log. Some were taking off right away, others like the bird in the photo above were jumping in the water while flaring their wings wide for balance.

The Cormorant is drying his wings.

This Cormorant decided to settle on the little log next to others. Not everyone wants to get into fight and lose.

One of the Cormorants made a deep sound that resembled the oinking pig.

Move over... Give me some room.

Observing, preening and resting.

It's time to go fishing.

Oops... Landing wasn't elegant but it was precise.

Generally, life is good!

Silhouettes of Cormorants During Sunset

 

In that late evening Avocets and Ibises were having their late supper in the muddiest part of Bear River.  Suddenly the Double-crested Cormorants appeared of nowhere but didn't stay in this place for a long time.  Shortly the Cormorants started to leave one by one.

Generally, life is good!

It's Time to Rest

 

"You can't have it all," I say these words often while photographing birds. It's rare when everything falls nicely in place; the background isn't distractive and the birds are close.  

Last week I watched Double-crested Cormorants and the interesting story was unfolding in front of my eyes but I couldn't capture it.  The background was so messy that most of the time my lens had a difficult time to focus.

At some point the pragmatic me thought that I was waisting my time but the other me, optimistic, was saying that I should try because later I would regret not trying.

Well, my story didn't work out the way I would like but I was able to capture some moments that I found interesting.  Here they are.

 

Generally, life is good!

A Ring-billed Gull is Waiting for a Free Meal

When I see the Ring-billed Gulls hanging around Pelicans I know what they are after. Gulls are the aggressive thieves that try to steal fish from Pelicans.

But what about Cormorants?  Do Ring-billed Gulls steal fish from them also? Yes, they steal.  Gulls appear to be simple birds but they don't wait passively for fish, they are actively stealing.  Stealing over the years Gulls developed many tricks and techniques to get a free meal. 

The Gulls are very intelligent and adaptive to their environment.  They are not monstrous, they are great survivors. 

Generally, life is good! 

They Are Teenagers - VII. What the Hell is That?

Missing one photograph doesn't make a big difference in your story but sometimes you feel that a story isn't complete without it. That is why I decided to rewrite my story about the silly American White Pelican.

***

As all young teenagers Pelicans do silly things. Thus, the Pelican pulled out of the water a long silt and very quickly learned that it's impossible to swallow it. 

The curious Cormorant happened to be around and of course he couldn't miss the silly moment.

The Pelican is struggling with a silt that is long and stuck in his mouth.  Eventually, the silly bird would get rid of his catch.

Generally, life is good!

Solo Performance

There are days when I am heading home from Bear River without photos of birds and at some moment suddenly everything changes in instant and a wonderful unexpected opportunity waits for me at the end of my trip.  

That ordinary and not very exciting day in the middle of October I noticed a few immature Double-Crested Cormorants on a log that usually belonged to Great Blue Herons.  I didn't have any idea what brought Cormorants to this place, why for almost an hour they stayed at this spot. Was it just an adventure? Or joy of being free while exploring new territories?

I was mostly concentrating on the Cormorant on photo above who preferred to stay alone.  He was very expressive while was drying his wings. 

Generally, life is good!

From a Nigh Roost

I saw geese flying from their night roost during sunrise, ibises but never saw how a flock of Double-crested Cormorants was leaving a night roost.  Bear River sometimes is full of surprises.