Double-crested Cormorant: Nature, Worth a Look! #featheredfriends

in hive-106444 •  5 years ago 

Shortly after arriving in Ft Meyers Florida, we met Maria, the owner of the house we would be staying at for the next several weeks. After a few minutes of walking through the house and being given the general tour, Maria mentioned the birds that visited her on a daily basis. With the home being right on a small lake, right out the back door did look like a bird sanctuary.
After settling in and getting a good night's sleep, the morning arrived in a flash.
With my coffee in hand I quietly went outside to enjoy the peacefulness of a gorgeous Florida morning.
Within a few minutes I noticed something moving in the tree in the yard.
Well, this is the guy I ran into.
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At the time I had no idea what kind of bird I was photographing.
He hung out long enough for me to snap off a couple of pictures.
As he flew away, I hoped he would return for another photo shoot.

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Over the last couple of days, not only did he return, he placed himself front and center. It was like he knew he had the attention of the camera's eye.

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I was able to get some great pictures, and after some research, I realized I was watching the Double-crested Cormorant.

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Double-crested Cormorants float low on the surface of the water and dive to catch small fish. Their feathers don't have the same oils on them as duck feathers, therefor their feathers absorb some water, making them not as buoyant. They catch fish by diving from the surface. The Double-crested Cormorant chases its prey under water and seizes it with its hooked bill.

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This bird measures 80–95cm from the tip of the beak to the end of the tail, and the average weight is 2.5kg.

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Take a look at the neck of this Cormorant. The neck is very slender.

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The Double-crested Cormorant can dive to depths of 75 meters/245 feet.
These magnificent birds can fly without rest from the Austrian Danube to the Italian Adriatic. The total distance of this trip is about 600 km , and they have been recorded making this trip in 12 hours of continuous flying.
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While watching this bird dive for food, I was amazed at how long he could stay submerged. On one of his dives I clocked how long he was under water for, a minute and 35 seconds later he broke the surface, and was at least 200 feet away from where he started his dive.

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Being that the Double-crested Cormorant's feathers absorb water, they will constantly dry themselves by extending and fluttering their wings.

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In this picture you can see that the feathers are both black and gray.

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Doing a little research on the Double-crested Cormorant, I learned that they are somewhat common to this area. For a guy from the mountains of Upstate New York, they are anything but common.
Watching the Double-crested Cormorant do his thing, right out the back door of where we are staying. has been a ball.
Nature never ceases to amaze me!👍👍

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This last picture comes with a cool little story. While watching one particular dive of the Double-crested Cormorant, he came up with a pretty good size fish. When I first caught a glimpse of him, I was not sure what I was looking at. The only thing out of the water was his neck and half of a fish, the other half was already engulfed by the bird.
Before I could grab the camera he had swallowed his meal.
As he slowly paddled away I was able to snap off a picture of him from behind.
You can see that his neck is now swollen with fish he had caught.

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There is something immediately immersive and rewarding about the birds you discover in a new place. When some folks from Malta visited us, they were really entertained at the birds we took for granted. Then I though of how I love to see the native fowl when I travel.

Sounds like a great place to be for a few months!

Thanks for the reply @zekepickleman, my bad with the very late reply, #farm-mom has us on a schedule that leaves me very little down time. I swear before we get back home we will have visited every beach in the state of Florida.
It's funny how we take things for granted when we are exposed to them every day.

Ah no worries man. I follow you for your stories and not your quick responses. ;)

Enjoy the scenery and I will shovel some snow for ya.

Yea, I just talked to my buddy back home and he was digging out, 18 inches fell last night.

Fantastic photos and information about these fascinating birds! It sounds like you have an ideal bird watching spot there! My week has been crazy busy and I am so sorry for not getting here to give this a dna vote, but here is a !tip and I will try to be better organized this week!

Thanks @melinda010100, This spot is unbelievable, so many different birds stop by everyday.
With all that you do I would expect that your schedule is busy all of the time.
Thanks for everything you do for so many of us .

I do wish I could add a few more hours to the days! Thanks for your kind words! ❤️ Enjoy your warm days and all those birds!

@papilloncharity (my cousin Stephen) and I were just discussing Cormorants yesterday, what great synchronicity.
These are great photos. do you know about the Chinese fishermen who use these birds to fish for them?
Great post @thebigsweed, you and @farm-mom are lucky folks.

Thanks @jerrytruseer thanks for the reply. We are so lucky to be able to afford the time off to travel. The place we are staying at now is right on a lake about three miles from the beach. There're are so many different birds here it is so cool.
I'm happy you enjoyed this post, I had a great time putting it all together.

I did enjoy it very much @thebigsweed. Tell @farm-mom I said Hi.
Here is something to stimulate your morning
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Wow, thanks. What a very peaceful scene, man and nature working together.

You're welcome. Another friend from SA who was talking with me about Cormorants said that he didn't like to see wild animals used this way.
I countered that Dogs, Cats, cows and chickens etc... were all wild animals once.

Very true.

Wow @jerrytsuseer, great picture.
Nature is awesome, we love to be in the middle of it. Tomorrow we are going to spent the day on Captiva Island which is at the northern end of Sanibel Island, west coast Florida. Everything down here is connected with bridges, since all these little Islands and keys are cut off by water inlets. It's so pretty here.

When I was 16, my parents took one of those "Come see our real estate presentation and you can stay 2 nights and 3 days at a luxury hotel on Miami Beach" (they were hoping to get daddy to buy something)
So they spent most of one day at this silly thing, while my nephew and me stayed by the pool or on the beach.
The next day, we loaded up and drove all the way to Key West, got out, dipped our feet in the water so we could say we'd been there, turned around and drove all the way back to Miami Beach (the "Fountain Bleu"hotel no less)
Then we drove cross state to Tampa/St Pete and spent a couple of days/night (same real estate deal) then drove home.
Lotta driving, and being 16, I did a lot of it.
That was OH so long ago, I've barely been back since then.

🎁 Hi @thebigsweed! You have received 0.1 STEEM tip from @melinda010100!

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Sending tips with @tipU - how to guide.

Thanks @melinda010100 for the tip

My pleasure! 😘

What a great place, I love the wildlife.
The beaches are beautiful and my company is awesome.
So glad we are here and not in 20 degee weather, 75 is perfect.

What awesome shots they are such beautiful birds