Cormorants of Sepulveda Wildlife Refuge

Cormorants can be extremely challenging to shoot. When they are swimming,
very often the dynamic range (the difference in level between shadow and highlight)
is wider than the camera can capture and it requires skill to avoid overexposing the beak
or underexposing the shadowed areas. In flight, they move very quickly and there is very little
to focus on as the majority of the bird is dark (cameras require contrast to focus). They can be one
of the most frustrating targets a wildlife photographer can shoot... and one of the most difficult subjects.

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Breeding Cormorant X0310

A Double-Crested Cormorant in breeding plumage at the beginning of the
season in March, taken in Monterey CA. The bare facial skin is a bright orange,
but the characteristic nuptial crests on the forehead have not yet appeared.

Breeding Cormorant X0306 detail

Breeding Cormorant X1174 detail

Detail of Double-Crested Cormorants in breeding plumage. The image at left was taken in Monterey, CA,
and the image at right was taken at Sepulveda Wildlife Refuge in April. As the breeding season progresses,
the raised dots around the bright green eye can sometimes turn a brilliant turquoise, as seen in the right image.

Breeding Cormorant X1174 M

A breeding Cormorant at Sepulveda Wildlife Refuge.

Cormorant 0303 M

A non-breeding Cormorant off Sanibel Island, Florida.

Cormorant 1013

A Double-Crested Cormorant at the LA Arboretum. This is one of the very few wildlife images I have taken using a flash. Normally, I shoot with available light, but it was quite dark.

Cormorant X8164

A juvenile Neotropic Cormorant in December. Note the tan neck and the smaller area of yellow facial skin below the eye. The Neotropic Cormorant develops a white edge on the bare gular pouch skin below the eye (just becoming visible here).

Cormorant with Prey 0312 M

A non-breeding Double-Crested Cormorant, swimming with prey off Sanibel Island, Florida.
Note the sharp dorsal spines on the fish. The Cormorant will flip the prey so it can swallow it
head first to avoid being cut by the spines (as you will see in images shown further below).

All of the landscape (horizontal) large version images linked from the thumbnails are 1500 pixels wide.
Portrait (vertical) images are 1200 pixels tall (1290 pixels with title bar). Images designated with an “M”
in the shot number are 5:4 aspect ratio, 1500 x 1290 with a title bar, or 1500 x 1200 without a title bar.

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Anhinga and Cormorant

Cormorant Flight Head-on 1000

Cormorant Flight Head-on X5571

Two exceptionally difficult head-on shots of rapidly approaching Cormorants in flight.
More images of Cormorants in Flight are displayed together further down the page.

Cormorants Domestic Dispute X5493 M

A male Cormorant at Sepulveda Wildlife Refuge gets an earful as he returns home...

Cormorants Feeding in Nest X5520

Not long afterward, all is forgiven and a meal of regurgitated fish is shared.

Cormorant Display 0923

A Juvenile Double-Crested Cormorant displaying on a canal at the LA Arboretum in April.

Cormorant Display 0927

Juvenile Double-Crested Cormorants can have variable plumage, from the white breast and shoulders
and brown-and-white speckled neck of this displaying juvenile to a darker brown with a paler tan neck.

Cormorant Display X1140

A Double-Crested Cormorant displays during breeding season in April at Sepulveda Wildlife Refuge.

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White-Necked Cormorant X5883

The White-Necked Cormorant, or White-Breasted Cormorant in a close portrait.

White-Necked Cormorant Nesting X5873 M

A White-Necked Cormorant nesting. These are very closely related to the Great Cormorant,
and the White-Breasted (or White-Necked) Cormorant is often considered a regional variant.

Japanese Cormorant 7905

A Japanese Cormorant (Temminck’s Cormorant) in Sankeien Garden in Japan.
For over 1000 years, Japanese fishermen have trained these Umi-U (the Japanese
name for Sea Cormorants) to fish for them in the ancient tradition known as Ukai.

Cormorant Courtship Behavior 4807

Cormorants during courtship in an unbelievably cute cuddling and neck-intertwining sequence.

Cormorant Courtship Behavior 4802

Cormorant Courtship Behavior 4808

Cormorant Courtship Behavior 4809

Cormorants using their long necks to cuddle during a courtship encounter.

Cormorant X0104 M

A Double-Crested Cormorant coasting by at Sepulveda Wildlife Refuge.
Achieving an exposure that does not overexpose the bill can be challenging.

Cormorant 1415

A Double-Crested Cormorant displaying its brilliant green eye in November at Sepulveda Wildlife Refuge.
Achieving an accurate exposure of a cormorant against a dark background can be quite challenging. The bill
is easily overexposed, and underexposing to protect the bill risks loss of feather detail and color saturation.

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Cormorant Head-on HS2938 M

A head-on shot of a juvenile Double-Crested Cormorant swimming at Sepulveda Wildlife Refuge.
Juveniles have a pale throat and breast, darkening towards the belly. Their plumage darkens with age.

Cormorant HS2977

A Double-Crested Cormorant hunting at Sepulveda Wildlife Refuge in April.
In the spring, the algae blooms, turning the surface of the pond a reddish-gold.

Cormorant with Prey HS2986

Cormorant with Prey HS2994

The Cormorant caught the fish and brought it up impaled on its bill hook. It tried to turn the fish so it could
swallow it head first, but had to cough the fish back up and start again after nearly dropping it (see below).

Cormorant with Prey HS2996c

A Double-Crested Cormorant with prey at Sepulveda Wildlife Refuge in April (detail crop).

These images were exceptionally difficult to shoot (exposure issues in late morning light),
as well as being very tricky to process and post-process due to the unusual color balance
which was caused by the reflection of the blue and red light from the algae-covered water.

The Cormorant spent some time juggling the fish to get it faced properly so it
could swallow the fish head-first to avoid the sharp spines (see the images below).

Cormorant with Prey HS3008

Cormorant with Prey HS3009

Cormorant with Prey HS3012

Cormorant with Prey HS3013

Cormorant with Prey HS3027 M

The Cormorant finally got the fish aligned properly and started to swallow it head-first,
but had to cough it back up, being careful not to lose the fish by dropping it in the water.

Cormorant with Prey HS3031

A Double-Crested Cormorant with prey, dripping blood into the
spring algae-strewn pond at Sepulveda Wildlife Refuge in April.

Cormorant HS3041

The Cormorant finally got the fish down, and swam away with a very self-satisfied look on his face.

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Cormorants in Flight

Cormorant Flight Study 1007-12 XXL
(3000 x 600 composite)

A 33% reduction of the XXL Flight Study Composite (9300 x 1725) showing six consecutive
images of a Double-Crested Cormorant in flight at sunset, taken at Sepulveda Wildlife Refuge.

Capturing a properly-exposed image of a Cormorant in flight at sunset is challenging, as the bill and
the bare skin of the lores and gular pouch tend to overexpose easily. It is also difficult to achieve sharp
focus on the eye and to track the eye in flight, as Cormorants fly past very rapidly. When everything comes
together perfectly, the result is a rare, properly-exposed and sharp flight sequence as in the image above.

Below are two consecutive images from the center right of this flight study sequence.

Cormorant Flight 1010

Cormorant Flight 1011

Cormorant Flight 1022

A Double-Crested Cormorant in flight at sunset, taken in December just after the Flight Study.

Cormorant Flight 1024

Cormorant Flight X5250

The Cormorant shown above right was taken during a different session, at late afternoon in September.

Cormorant Flight 1106 M

One last shot from the sunset shoot in December. That was an especially prolific session.

Shooting Cormorants in flight can be unbelievably challenging. They fly very quickly, and the normal
technique of acquiring a focus lock by placing the focusing reticle on the head or wing root do not work
very well, as there is not much contrast for the camera to lock onto. If the head (and eye) is not in focus,
the image has little or no value. The best method is to lock on an area where the head meets the sky,
but the bird flies so quickly that often it has flown through the depth of field of a long telephoto lens
during the time the shutter is open. It is more difficult when the cormorant is flying towards you,
rather than across the field of view, and locking focus is difficult against a dark background.

Cormorant Flight 1470

A profile flight portrait taken about an hour before sunset at Sepulveda Wildlife Refuge.

Cormorant Sunset Flight X7593 M

A Double-Crested Cormorant flies into the sunset at Sepulveda Wildlife Refuge in November.

Cormorant Flight 1068

A Cormorant flies low over the water in the golden light before sunset during that marvelous session
in December which yielded the Flight Study and several other Cormorants in flight displayed on this page.

Cormorant Flight X5086 M

A Double-Crested Cormorant in flight, late in the afternoon in September.

The dark blue-green waters of the pond make this shot extremely difficult.
The only way to successfully gain a focus lock and track the bird is to lock
onto the bill or the yellow facial skin and keep the reticle on the spot while
panning with the fast-moving bird as it blazes by you at the speed of light.

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Cormorant Flight X5093

Cormorant Flight X5094

Several different wing positions of a Double-Crested Cormorant in Flight at Sepulveda Wildlife Refuge.
Achieving proper exposure and focus of fast-moving Cormorants against a dark background is challenging.

Cormorant Flight X5349

Cormorant Flight X5476

Cormorant Flight X5492

Two Double-Crested Cormorants in a high-speed flight, low over the water at
Sepulveda Wildlife Refuge. Note the broken primary feather of the bird in front.

Cormorant Flight X5499

A Double-Crested Cormorant soars over the pond at Sepulveda Wildlife Refuge in September.

Cormorant Flight X5508

An absolutely perfect shot of a Cormorant in flight at Sepulveda Wildlife Refuge. Note the bright green eye.

Cormorant Flight X5508c

A slightly-reduced detail crop from the master image showing the eye, bill and feather detail.
Achieving this sort of detail of a Cormorant in flight is challenging. Ask anyone who has tried.

Cormorant Flight X5527

The Cormorant with the broken primary feather trails his wingtip in the pond during a high-speed pass.

Cormorant Takeoff X5095

Cormorant Takeoff X5097

Cormorants often have to hop on the water using their webbed feet while gaining takeoff speed.

Cormorant Takeoff X5100

A Double-Crested Cormorant thrusts off of the water with its webbed feet during a takeoff at Sepulveda.

Cormorant Sunset Flight X5597

A Double-Crested Cormorant flies into the sunset at Sepulveda Wildlife Refuge in September.

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