Double-Crested Cormorants: Fish for Breakfast!! (and lunch and dinner)

These Double-crested Cormorants were photographed one morning at Shoreline Lake in Mountain View, California. They had a very high success rate in coming up with a fish. Most of them swallowed the fish immediately after surfacing but some of the immature cormorants had to move the fish into position first; and while they were doing that, gulls would swoop in and try to steal their catch. The last image shows a gull that was successful at stealing a fish right out of the cormorant's mouth.

C&C welcomed.

Ron

Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM Lens, Canon 100-400mm 4.5/5.6 L IS II, Canon 400mm F5.6L, Canon 50mm f/1.4, Canon 17-40 f/4 L, Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM, Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L, Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM, Set of Kenko Extension Tubes, Canon 580EX
Galleries at: https://www.flickr.com​/photos/ronfredrick/

Trevor Wadman

Canon 40D/350D Canon 400L F/5.6, Canon 70-200L F/4 non IS. Tamron 100-300,Canon 18-55 Kit Lens. Canon 1.4 II Extender, Canon 430EX speedlight.
http://s41.photobucket​.com/albums/e286/bromm​/

bromm wrote in post #4739307
Excellent series, that last shot is too funny!

Thanks, Trevor. Glad you like the shots.

Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM Lens, Canon 100-400mm 4.5/5.6 L IS II, Canon 400mm F5.6L, Canon 50mm f/1.4, Canon 17-40 f/4 L, Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM, Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L, Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM, Set of Kenko Extension Tubes, Canon 580EX
Galleries at: https://www.flickr.com​/photos/ronfredrick/

Steve

ajosteve wrote in post #4739557
Ron, those are really cool shots. Never saw a cormorant with a fish before...steve

Thanks, Steve. Glad you liked the shots. It's actually pretty fun to see what the cormorants come up with. Many times they'll catch fish that are much to big to swallow. But they'll continue to try to swallow the fish for 10 minutes or more before finally giving it up.

Ron

Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM Lens, Canon 100-400mm 4.5/5.6 L IS II, Canon 400mm F5.6L, Canon 50mm f/1.4, Canon 17-40 f/4 L, Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM, Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L, Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM, Set of Kenko Extension Tubes, Canon 580EX
Galleries at: https://www.flickr.com​/photos/ronfredrick/

Best regards

Sindri

Sindri Skulason wrote in post #4741007
Excellent shots with great timing. Well done Ron.

Thank you for your comment, Sindri. Always much appreciated.

Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM Lens, Canon 100-400mm 4.5/5.6 L IS II, Canon 400mm F5.6L, Canon 50mm f/1.4, Canon 17-40 f/4 L, Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM, Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L, Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM, Set of Kenko Extension Tubes, Canon 580EX
Galleries at: https://www.flickr.com​/photos/ronfredrick/

Keith
flickr

kr88 wrote in post #4742532
Wow Ron! I enjoyed going through this sequence of shots. The surprise at the end was funny. Great shots and great action sequence. Nice work!

Thank you, Keith. Glad you enjoyed the sequence. It's easy to see the difference in "fish handling" ability between the fully mature cormorant in the first image and the juveniles in the remainder of the photos. WIth the adult cormorant, it's "down the hatch" as soon as it surfaced. And in the rest of the images, the birds are struggling to position the captured fish prior to swallowing.

Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM Lens, Canon 100-400mm 4.5/5.6 L IS II, Canon 400mm F5.6L, Canon 50mm f/1.4, Canon 17-40 f/4 L, Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM, Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L, Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM, Set of Kenko Extension Tubes, Canon 580EX
Galleries at: https://www.flickr.com​/photos/ronfredrick/