Double-Crested Cormorants

After all this cold and mounds of frozen snow from numerous snow storms, I am so looking forward to warm weather.  I really miss going down to the town fishing dock on a warm Summer morning with a cup of coffee and observing the double-crested cormorants and gulls. I love the cormorants but the local fishermen don't share the same feeling.  They complain that they eat all the fish but the worst part is sometimes they think they caught "the big one" but unfortunately sometimes they catch a cormorant. They don't always see the cormorants because they dive under the water.  It is very unfortunate for the fishermen but especially for the cormorant.

Double-crested cormorants are rather large birds.  They can grow over two feet with a wing span of  four feet.  They don't have the oil in their skin to protect their feathers from being wet like ducks and other water birds.  They perch themselves and open up their wings and dry them out. It really is amazing to watch.  They like to feed and perch in groups and seem to get along well with the sea gulls down at our town dock.

http://www.photosbynancyann.com/Nature/Nature-by-the-Sea/13997835_4XMQD#1053194674_WDVwe