A few weekends ago, I was rode along the Platte River bike path. When passing the Overland Pond, several Cormorants were perched on logs around the pond. After completing the bike ride, I returned with camera. By this time, only one Cormorant remained. This bird was perched on a log close to the center of the pond.
I spent about hour at the edge of the pond, making several images. This cormorant has a striking orange chin.
While perched, the cormorant pooped several times. Often birds will poop before taking flight. However, this time the bird remained on the perch.
This is a Double-Crested Cormorant. These birds have two crests, that look like long eye brows. In the image above, these “crests” are really visible when looking away.
Wow. How wide can bird open its mouth! They swallow fish whole.
Looking carefully, these cormorants have blue eyes. However, this was the first time that I noticed the the inside of their mouth is also blue.
Cormorants often drape their wings while perched out of water. They spend much time swimming on or below water; they spread their wings to allow water to drip off before taking flight.
In the above image, the bird made some unusual poses. I’m not sure what the above pose is about; there were no other cormorants in the vicinity. After spending an hour or so, the cormorant had left the perch and continued swim around the pond. On the other side of the pond, three Painted Turtles were perched on a log.
This was the first time that I had seen these turtles. I moved around to alter the angle of the log to a diagonal.
Finally, just before leaving the pond, one squirrel had found something to munch. He had been sitting on a knob of the tree, eating in the the afternoon sunlight.
Soon after making this image, the cormorant took flight and left the area.