White-breasted Cormorant (Phalacrocorax lucidus)
The cormorant family are normally found at the sea side… and in our country, on every shore we have. But, the White-breasted Cormorant is the only one that has a strictly fresh water population… like us I suppose some prefer the sea to others…
Fish eaters, never seen one with chips yet, it tends to swim with only it’s head above water… much like I live… head above water ha ha…
After fishing they will dry themselves by perching on a branch or rock and as aviators are quite beautiful to capture…..
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Just love it. Especially the guy in the tower guiding the bird in, sort of! Excellent photographic shots Bulldog! xx
You captured some amazing shots Bulldog…well done!
Thank you LuAnn
Well captured Bulldog – looks like a smoother landing than some of the flights I’ve experienced.
a lot smoother than some I’ve had as well…
Watching this fella makes me wish I could fly. Great capture of every bit of exciting action. Thanks.
Wow…that was an amazing landing. Great!
Lovely blow by blow account 😛
Thank you… and thanks for the visit…and comment..
What a sensational series of pics! Your posts make my day, Bulldog 😀
Thank you .. now that is good news…
Mwahaha! Love the captions. We saw something similar, but one of the sea loving ones when we were on vacation – was a bit of a surprise when it swam right past us in the surf. For a second it looked like a snake and we all got very “excited”.
Yes they do look a lot like.. snakes in the water… thanks for the comment…
Not sure i want to fly with this one, landings always make me ill.
It wasn’t too basd a landing… but have seen better…
You continually present me with a few challenges, Rob. I am trying so hard to really “know” my local birds. 🙂 I just returned from Central California and I spent some time at a heron rookery that is currently home to more cormorants than herons. I was paying lots of attention, but I don’t think they were white-breasted…now I have to figure out how they were different. 🙂 They are funny to watch–and quite noisy! There were thousands and the collective sound reminded me of small tigers!
The double-crested cormorant is common in America, so it could be that one… in California, the common coastal species is the Brandt’s Cormorant.. but to be safe you can just call it a cormorant, with some of the interbreeding that goes on in this specie, they could be anything…
Now that you mention it, I think I did hear someone else identify the birds as double-crested cormorants. I’ll have to check a bit more, but they were really funny birds! I took some video of them in their nesting areas and although it’s not a great video, I’ll probably share it soon. It’s so interesting in its particular location. 🙂
The water seems so serene for landing. Love the series of photos, smiling at each one including your captions!!
Thank you… it was such a beautiful day and I had the bird hide all to myself… such smooth water does not happen everyday so I was lucky…
Great commentary as always. Loving the shots. Your words remind of me of what I say to the pilot every time I fly. I’m not the best flyer in the world & brake, brake, brake is my most commonly used word.
Thank you… yes having flown many hours in a micro-lite… I can assure you those words are heard a lot when landing on short runways…
What a great series. You must fly to know the sequence of events. 🙂
Oh I have flown a lot Maralee… but then the use of the brake brake brake is used far more often…
More great captures Bulldog!
Thank you..
Why do I I love your blog? It’s pictures are beautiful, it’s commentaries are educational, and it’s captions are very funny.
Thank you so much for the lovely complement… I do appreciate it…
Great capture of what human aviation replicates.
Yes Frank… I think many a pilot has watch these and other birds really closely… one can learn from them…
ok ok – if you don’t want to do poems… i vote for more of these adorable sequences with bulldog captions to match. These are super amazing shots — and I love how you embellished them with your wonderful expressive words! How cool is that shot — “Landing Gear” — gorgeous bird too.
x Love to you always, RL
Thank you Robyn… no I think I’ll leave the poetry to those that can like yourself… I’ll stick to this, my comfort zone…
Well, Rob, some job of stop-action photography! I loved it. I might have gotten one of the shots in acceptable focus… I had no idea what this bird was when I saw it on my reader, but I loved the shot of it in the water with the reflection. My favorite birds are the long-neck species. I chuckle every time I see a new bulldog photo. I remember asking you how you managed to shoot the wonderful “National Geographic” photos of the golf courses. You said you were just a “point-N-shoot” guy with common equipment. I thought to myself, “BD is full of it!” I still think so! I am always astounded at the creatures that you manage to capture in such natural and interesting ways. 🙂
George.. I take this as a complete and wonderful complement… but I can assure you my oldish fujifilm HS10 is a middle class point and shoot camera… yet I’m so proud of it sometimes… but there are days where I can take 250 -300 photos and probably only save 30… it does not have the abilities of the Canons and Nikons but I am getting quite used to it’s limitations… and some days return without any deletions… thank you for such a nice complement… I have been known to be full of it.. but then it’s all in good fun… Linda sometimes says she thinks I was dropped on my head at birth…
What a great series 🙂 I love how smooth the water is waiting for that landing gear to disrupt it’s serene surface..
It was such a good clear still winter day with almost no wind to disrupt the water surface… doesn’t happen often at a dam known for its yacht sailing…
Lovely! I could almost feel the wind from their wings. 🙂
Thank you August .. it is not often, with my camera, that I’m able to make such a capture.. so I had to milk this one completely…
love it!
thank you..
Do you, perhaps, have your pilot’s licence? Or maybe an air traffic controller’s ticket? I’d say you brought him in for a pretty good landing.
Again, to compare birds, we have the all black kind of cormorant. Interesting to see the variations of cormorant.
I have flown a lot .. spent many an hour in a micro-lite.. and pretty well can instruct any bird how to land..LOL.. I love watching the vultures when they come into land.. I think there are a few planes designed around them…
The Cormorant is pretty wide spread, all the different varieties that is, dont know of a land that doesn’t have one of the specie… this one has been know to cross breed with the dark breasted cormorant of the central African regions.. so there is probably a Latin name for that one as well…
They must also be good flyers because we have helicopters named after them. I think they use them for search and rescue.
Fast and stable fliers.. their flat to vertical climb rate is also something to see… they tend to fly low over water then at the last minute climb steeply to their nests that are high in trees… fascinates me…
They are amazing… and you are too. Made me laugh… I loved all these photographs, Thank you, love, nia
Thank you Nia… you are so kind…
What a fun post You really caught all the action beautifully, and made me smile into the bargain. 🙂
Thank you… just could not quite get the bird in the centre of the frame… old hand and eye co-ordination…
Love this pics! And as the previous commenter said…your words are funny! I see how much you love animals!
Thank you.. I do enjoy the nature of our country as I think you have experienced as well…
Awwwwww…these are absolutely stunning captures Rob! I absolutely love them and your captions brought a huge smile to my face! Great shots my friend! 😀 *hugs*
Thank you Sonel… love to make others smile…
😀
Awesome captures and captions!
Thank you Jackie… and thanks for the visit…
I’m with photosfromtheloonybin – laugh every time and love your sense of humour!
Thank you… my job here for the day is done…
Your commentary gets me laughing every time. I love your sense of humour :).
Thank you… glad I bring a smile to your face…