Brandt's Cormorant

Gallery: AvianPosted February 5, 201299 views7 comments

Went down to La Jolla Cove for the first time and it was amazing. We were looking for male Brown Pelicans and I noticed these cormorants which seemed different to me. A nice gentleman indicated that these were Brandt's which I have never seen before. He pointed out a couple males which seemed to be in breeding colors (according to my research- a little early). It was hard to find one in color and separate from the other cormorants. This guy kept looking out to the sea and after about 15 minutes gave me some OK poses.

7D with 500mm
Tripod
1/1000 at f / 6.3
ISO 250
EV + 1/3
AV
Pattern metering

Comments

7 comments

Comment posted by Jerry Austin on February 5, 2012 at 12:59 PM

Very nice. Great sharpness and the feather details are great. The rocks and blue water add quite a bit. Great job.

Registered on January 6, 2012, 651 Posts, 3448 Comments

Comment posted by Philip Hodgkins on February 5, 2012 at 3:26 PM

Good detail and and lovely iridescence. The pose gives a good look at the weird pale blue at the base of the bill

Registered on July 24, 2006, 2741 Posts, 12349 Comments

Comment posted by Mauro Pasquero on February 5, 2012 at 6:15 PM

Nice pose that allow you to see in detail the iridescent plumage of the bird. Well done.
Mauro

Registered on January 21, 2010, 650 Posts, 2500 Comments

Comment posted by Angela McCain on February 5, 2012 at 11:19 PM

Wow, what a great looking bird. He looks like he is color matched to the water. Great detail in the blacks.

Registered on April 19, 2009, 367 Posts, 3589 Comments

Comment posted by David Haynes on February 6, 2012 at 12:21 AM

Harry,
Terrific capture. You got really nice iridescence at the base of the tail and also the neck area. You gotta love those eyes. Very difficult to separate just one of them from the rest. Perfect background match for him Harry. La Jolla cove is amazing. It can be difficult to shoot with all the vacationers that are always there. Were there tons of seals? AND....did you get your pelican shot? Might be a little bit late for them in breading plumage so I hope you were able to get some shots. Love to shoot with you sometime soon. It's been a while!!

Registered on February 20, 2010, 110 Posts, 1511 Comments

Comment posted by SandyRichardsBrown on February 6, 2012 at 6:16 PM

Wonderful capture of those irridescent colours - great pose, perch and BG too.
Excellent!
Sandy

Registered on November 24, 2003, 3937 Posts, 12909 Comments

Comment posted by Jim Hackley on February 8, 2012 at 3:26 PM

I have never heard of this cormorant and it certainly has an interesting color scheme with that blue eye. Nice job in waiting for the shot you wanted as this paid off with that nice iridescent shine, way to go.

Registered on September 17, 2009, 302 Posts, 5535 Comments