ML353849831

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

When standing in the west cell, I noticed 3 cormorants flying in from the west. One was obviously significantly smaller than the other two to the naked eye as they flew toward me. I got them in my binocs, focusing on this smaller bird. There was obviously less orange in the facial area than the two bigger birds. The bill and head both looked smaller and neck thinner than the 2 much larger DCCO. The tail was noticeably longer, which was also even evident to the naked eye. I cannot claim to have gotten gape shape on this fast look. I grabbed my camera to start shooting and the attached pics show the noticeable size difference. The pics also show the obvious difference between the amount of orange in the bill and lores and smaller bill and head. Pics do not show the tail length difference observed in the field since the birds were flying away at that point. Note- there is a DCCO colony here but fledged cormorants that are flying are as large as adults. Pics show that this bird is missing some flight feathers making it unlikely that it’s a young bird. All flocks of cormorants flying around on this morning (totaling several hundred birds) were uniformly sized and shaped except for this bird, further supporting that this was not a small fledged DCCO.

Technical information

Model

Canon EOS 7D Mark II

Lens

EF300mm f/4L IS USM +1.4x

ISO

200

Focal length

420 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/6.3

Shutter speed

1/1000 sec

Dimensions

2520 pixels x 1808 pixels

Original file size

2.66 MB