Double-crested Cormorant

The Cormorants recently returned and this one quickly showed off his fishing skills. This fish appeared to be 12" to 14" inches and was gone in no time.

Down the hatch !!!!

So neat, Nice action shots!!

Great pictures linth, it's always so much fun to capture the "unusual".

Great series Linth!

Wonderful catch!

How I envy you being only 4-5 miles away from such great photo ops. I'm sure you go farther at times since the Bay is such a vast area but wow - count your blessings and thanks for sharing, Charlie.

Terrific pictures linthicum, it is great to get the chance for an action sequence like that.
I recently managed a picture of a Darter or Snake-bird (Anhinga melanogaster) here in Australia, when it surfaced with a fish in its bill. I was able to identify the fish from the picture as a Red-finned Perch, which are introduced and a major pest in waterways in this area.

that picture shows the fish better than the Darter, so here is another picture of the same bird (an adult male) after swallowing its perch and hauling out to dry off

and one more to show just why they are called snake-bird. They have the amazing ability to swim with their body totally immersed, with just the snake-like head and neck visible

This message was edited Apr 4, 2007 5:40 PM

Thanks, everyone.

Grasmussen, you're right about the unusual. Hanging around those Bald Eagles up there, you should have some great opportunity to capture the "unusual" as defined by most of us. Your last series is great, and unusual !!!

Dave, I am surrounded by a lot of different habitat which provides excellent opportunities for quite a variance of species, especially during migration. And, I'm only about two hours from the Atlantic Ocean so I need to spend more time trying to photograph shorebirds. I now have Bald Eagles nesting right in the city limits about 10 minutes from my house. I think the eggs have hatched but have not seen any eaglets. Why they picked this location, beats me. It's right in someone's backyard !!!

Ken, nice action photos of the Darter catching the perch. I guess if you hang around some of these waterbirds long enough, you will get some action. The only other similar shots that I have are of a Great Blue Heron and Green Heron catching a fish. Here is the Great Blue Heron.

And here is the Green Heron .....

Wow, that is quite a mouthful the Great Blue Heron has caught

This message was edited Apr 4, 2007 5:40 PM

Yeah, it's amazing . . . here's a small bird (weight, 2kg), and it'll swallow a fish whole in one gulp, that the average human (weight, 70kg) would take half an hour to eat . . . and definitely NOT in one gulp!

Resin