Tuesday, April 8, 2008

A Powerful Swimmer


As I was leaving work today at about 6:30 p.m., I saw a large black bird come in for a landing on the river, and soon saw another like it already on the water. These seem very likely to have been double-crested cormorants. Last summer I regularly saw one perched at the top of the large cottonwood tree that was taken down later in the season, but I hadn't seen them on the water before. Look at the wake this one leaves as it swims, and how the water is cresting up around the bird: now that's a powerful swimmer. (Click on the photo for better detail.)

1 comment:

Minnesota Nice said...

Just stumbled on you while perusing other MN bloggers... I think this is indeed a cormorant, we have a number of these on Lake Nokomis, here in town! Very interesting little guys.