In my last post I wrote about my first visit this year to the Black Skimmer colony.   Well, the skimmers aren’t the only fun birds to photograph on that stretch of beach.  There are always terns and peeps to photograph as well.  So here are the other birds that made an appearance in front of my lens that morning…

My first bird of the morning was a Double-crested Cormorant who was fishing in the shallow waves.  Pesky bird, he stayed in the shade even though there was a nicely lit patch of water very close to him.  He was intent on finding his breakfast in the rushing water, and he surprised me how many fish he turned up in just a few minutes.  It was fun to see him swimming, since I usually see them sitting in trees.  His body was muscular and he dove like a duck.

This American Oystercatcher flew in calling with all his might.  Then he hopped into the waves and started bathing.  Well, I knew that meant that a wing-flap was coming, so I focused and got ready for it.  I got so many good poses from him, but my favorite was this one, which I cropped to vertical.  He looks like he’s doing birdie jumping jacks!

“nuh-uh-nuh-uh”….uh-oh….it’s the tell-tale sign of hanky-panky going on!  I often hear birds mating before I see them.  In this case, the birds were standing right behind me.   They didn’t seem to mind when I jumped up, walked around them to get on a good sun angle, had my camera yell “CARD FULL”, inserted a new card, and still got some shots.  I wish all birds were this cooperative! :)

As if he heard me complain that the fishing cormorant wasn’t in the sun, this cormorant emerged a little way down the beach.  His eyes were still brilliantly blue in his mating plumage, and they glistened in the morning light.  Like the oystercatcher, he hopped around a bit to take a bath, and then he too gave me a wing-flap.  This image is probably best viewed large, where his eyes seem to stare you down as you observe him.

Well, that was it for my morning at the skimmer colony.  I’m looking forward to my next visit!––