The easiest way to take a photo of one is when they’re perching on a pole – which they do 50% of the time. This is when they do not move too much. When in water, they turn out to be excellent and incredibly fast divers, spending almost all the time under the surface – only from time to time their neck appears above it and I must say it looks a lot like a very small periscope ;-)
In a way cormorants seem to be a cross between a bird and a fish. When you look at one sitting on its pole with wings folded, you’ll notice that the pattern in which the feathers are arranged looks a lot like scales, and that there’s nothing feathery and fluffy to it. But when is stretches its enormous wings – and it has a wingspan of up to 1.6m!!! – you cannot mistake it for anything else than a bird. After a swim they tend to dry their wings by unfolding them when balancing on the pole – another good moment for a photo. It’s amazing how such a slim figure of a bird can suddenly produce that much wings!
Enjoy the photos below, the result of my recent cormorant photo-hunting :-)