Shaking and spraying in Belize
We spent a lot of time on the dock at the Anchorage Resort in Caye Caulker. We were there for most of our stay in Belize. The dock extends out into the sea and was usually surrounded by pelicans, cormorants, a variety of shorebirds and a few osprey. It was a wonderful place to photograph these birds throughout their days. Watching the cormorants cycle of diving, fishing and then drying off always held my attention. This cormorant surfaced and then rose up to shake off the water. The droplets flew chaotically while the surface boiled around his tail. With the piercing blue eye sharply contrasting the blur of the wings and the spray, this photograph was one of my favorites from many overlooking the Caribbean.
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A cormorant perched
Double-crested cormorants fish, nest and fly all over Caye Culker where we stayed in Belize. There were a few wooden posts where they would often stop to preen, dry off and then watch for their next meal. Here I got off the dock, waded a bit closer to the bird and put the camera low to the water for this shot.
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A Curious Cormorant
When we were in Cabo San Lucas in early December, I saw many cormorants flying past our beach. They fly low and fast with little deviation from a straight line past the shore. The odd one would dive under to fish but our location did not seem to be a great spot for a meal. One morning, I was watching for Brown Pelicans, who will occasionally land quite close by, when a juvenile Brandt’s Cormorant (Phalacrocorax penicillatus) popped up on a rocky shelf about 30 meters away.
It looked at me for a second, started shaking off the water and then set to preening its feathers. I was thrilled to see one of these birds closeup. From afar, they appear to be completely black. With this opportunity, I was able to see the different shading in the feathers and the lighter shading around the face.
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That was interesting for me but the location made the images even better than the close proximity. It had chosen a dynamic spot where the waves were breaking close behind it, one even crashed right on the bird. The water droplets from the cormorant’s shaking, the sea spray and warm morning sunlight as well as some nice looks from my new friend made for a really great encounter.
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This fellow preened again for a few minutes after this and a couple of other waves crashed. Then it flew off the rock down to the water. I left it swimming and diving for fish.
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