ML544428641
Contributor
Date
Location
- Age and sex
- Adult, Unknown sex - 1
Media notes
An apparently continuing, adult Neotropic Cormorant that was presumably the same bird initially found at this site on 7 March 2023 by Chris Dean, was here photographed by Curtis A. Marantz on 9 March 2023 at Apollo Community Regional Park, Lancaster, Los Angeles County, California.
Observation details
We saw standing on the island with the Double-crested Cormorants a single, adult Neotropic Cormorant that spent most of its time sleeping with its head tucked. This bird was clearly smaller than the other birds, maybe two-thirds to three-quarters the size of adjacent birds, but generally similar in structure. The bill was of medium length and relatively slim, tapering from a base of medium depth to a blunt to weakly hooked tip along a culmen that was at least relatively straight. The forehead was sloping and the crown was rounded on a head that was unremarkable in size for a cormorant. The neck was slim and of medium length, and the body was relatively slim full-chested, and with an upright posture with the tail held downward in the plane of the body and touching the ground. The tail was relatively long, slim-based, and seemingly with a rounded tip. I was unable to see the wingtips, or really any of the back or wings, for that matter. The legs were short and relatively stout, and the feet were large and fully webbed. Unlike the bird seen earlier in the week, which was a dark brown overall, this bird was almost entirely black with only a few scattered pale markings on the breast and belly that likely reflected gaps in or misarranged feathers rather than pale markings on the feathers. The head and neck were solidly black, apparently including the supraloral region, with the exception of a narrow, but well-defined, white frame to the wedge-shaped gular-pouch that tapered to a point at the rear. The bill was a light to medium-gray in color, but the gular pouch was a deep yellow color and not the bright orange that characterized the the same regions on the Double-Crested Cormorants. I was unable to discern in the field the color of the eyes. The legs and webbed feet were black
Additional species
Technical information
- Model
- ILCE-7RM5
- Lens
- FE 200-600mm F5.6-6.3 G OSS
- ISO
- 800
- Focal length
- 576 mm
- Flash
- Flash did not fire
- f-stop
- f/6.3
- Shutter speed
- 1/250 sec
- Dimensions
- 4410 pixels x 2664 pixels
- Original file size
- 10.54 MB