A Double-crested Cormorant Take-off (Phalacrocorax auritus)

One lone Double-crested Cormorant on the lake yesterday ….

 

 

 

 

The double-crested cormorant is a little more than two feet long with a wingspan of about four feet. It has dark brown to black feathers, a long hooked bill with an orange throat pouch, a long tail, and webbed black feet. Adults have tufts of feathers over their eyes. Males and females look alike.

Cormorants dive for fish and marine invertebrates from the water's surface. After catching a fish, the cormorant surfaces, flips the fish in the air and swallows it head-first.

The double-crested cormorant doesn't have well-developed oil glands and isn't waterproofed very well. It often dries its feathers by perching on a pole or tree limb and stretching its wings out.