pelagic cormorant ~ 12/19/13 ~ Monterey Bay Aquarium

pelagic cormorant
Phalacrocorax pelagicus

I love how the pelagic cormorants don seasonal attire appropriate for Christmas.  They have such a cute red face this time of year.  The sun has to hit them just right for the greens and purples to appear in the feathers, otherwise they look kind of drab.  A couple weeks ago, I noticed several already had their white butt patches (properly called flank patches), but not all of them yet.  I'll have to try to get photos of that, even if they are crappy like the first one above.  I gotta tell you, I so appreciate good nature photography now that I know how difficult it is.  I've really enjoyed watching the pelagic cormorants hang out at the Monterey Bay Aquarium all year.  They build their nests on those ledges under the building.  Their presence at the Aquarium is a relatively new occurrence, maybe within the past 10-12 years?  I believe the MBA is one of only a few places you can easily observe breeding and nesting up close, because they typically nest on inaccessible rocky cliffs.  Back in August, I suggested to Jim Covel that they add a cormorant nest cam to their relatively new Web Cams.  We'll see...

ps 12/23/13 - Today I saw my first pelagic cormorant carrying kelp nesting material back to the MBA ledges.  They really don't seriously nest until about March.  Maybe they're practicing?

pss 12/30/13 - Today I saw 2 cormorants actually sitting on what look like nests.  Crazy early?

Brandt's cormorants ~ 07/03/11 ~ Coast Guard Pier

Brandt's cormorant
Phalacrocorax penicillatus

With the Coast Guard Pier being closed to the public from mid-February to about 2 weeks ago, the cormorants were able to nest very close to the breakwater fence without being disturbed. This was the first time I've been out to see them this year and captured decent close shots. The big drawback to them being so close is that they stink and there were a ton of flies. Some of the young are indeed bigger than the adults. Interesting to note, the cormorants shared the rocks with about an equal mix of a handful of brown pelicans and a handful of sea lions. I've been loosely watching how these animals seasonally trade places as king of the rocks (click here and here for past posts). Of course, it could have simply been the time of day where the few sea lions remaining were out swimming.

Brandt's cormorant ~ 05/31/11 ~ Cannery Row

Brandt's cormorant
Phalacrocorax penicillatus

I've always assumed these are Brandt's cormorants that congregate every year on this remnant of a sardine factory loading dock. However, as I look it up, these birds may be mixed in with double-crested cormorants (P. auritus), which I had previously thought only nested in trees. It's a crummy picture above, because the lighting was low and a fence kept me from getting closer. The third type of cormorant that is found in the Monterey Bay is the pelagic cormorant (P. pelagicus), and I've learned to recognize it by its white butt and solitary nesting behavior. I'll have to take binoculars the next time I walk through Cannery Row.

Oh, that green stuff in the foreground is non-native sweet fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) in the Apiaceae family. I always want to call it anise, which is an incorrect term that several lepidopterist-type like to call it due to the anise swallowtail butterfly. Towards late summer it's quite pretty here with feathery greenery and prolific yellow flowers covering the dilapidation of local history.

ps 06/22/11 - So far this year, I don't have any pictures of cormorants or sea lions from the Coast Guard Pier, because they closed it off from public access since around mid-February for repairs. I was told by Coast Guard personnel that it would only be closed for a week. Ha! While driving home the other day, I noticed the Coast Guard Pier is finally open again with a black chain link fence along the breakwall. I want to get out there to see what's up. I do know we haven't had the influx of sea lions like we did last year.

Brandt's cormorant ~ 05/05/10 ~ Coast Guard Pier

cormorants, sea lions, and brown pelicans

It seems to be in transition as the cormorants and sea lions negotiate space for the coveted breakwater rocks.

Yep, I'm bushed and don't feel like repeating myself from previous posts. Click below in the labels for the developing story. These pics are worth posting for what they show.

cormorants and sea lions

Simply a post to show that the cormorants aren't always on the rocks. Often during the day, they go off to feed or simply don't seem to be around. Yet, the sea lions don't move in to the empty space this time of year.

pelagic cormorant ~ 01/03/10 ~ Cannery Row

pelagic cormorant
Phalacrocorax pelagicus

These birds have been all the rage at the Monterey Bay Aquarium because they nest underneath the building. Unlike the Brandt's cormorants these are a bit less social.

Brandt's cormorant

Phalacrocorax penicillatus

The young are getting really big now. Seeing how demanding the young are reminds me of the stories I hear about how hungry human teenagers are (LOL!). I have some pics of eggs, but I'll need to dig those up from my archives from last month to post. I swear I've seen the guy whose mission it is to post pics to Wikipedia's Monterey wildlife. He rides a bicycle and has a humongous camera!

cormorant, heron, egret ~ 06/26/09 ~ Heron Rookery Natural Preserve

I would imagine this is a North American birder's paradise. How could you not pass up the opportunity to see so many fantastic birds nesting? Other signs also indicated the snowy egret nested here, too. This rookery is within a 5 minute walk to the Morro Bay State Park Museum of Natural History. I am incredibly sad all these state parks are closing!!! Our friendly museum volunteer is in charge of some big birding shindig where people from around the world gather to observe the incredible bird diversity in Morro Bay. I signed up for her e-mail notice and will post here once I find out specifics for the event. She said they're having some difficulty figuring out alternatives to state park sites for their field trips.

double-crested cormorant
Phalacrocorax auritus

I find it fascinating these cormorants nest in trees versus the rocks of our Monterey area Brandt's cormorants. How do web feet cling onto tree branches?

great blue heron
Ardea herodias

Behind a church here in Monterey, there's a 3-year old nesting site for great blue herons. Whenever I visit my friend, I look out my sun roof to see if I can spot one of them in the nests. The nesting site is easy to spot because now most of the trees around the nests are dead.

great egret
Ardea alba

More often than not, signs do a much better job than I ever could at explaining things. Click on the photo above and you'll get a larger image for reading.

Brandt's cormorant
Phalacrocorax penicillatus

Yay, we finally got a picture of a couple eggs. Their blue throats are amazing!

Brandt's cormorant
Phalacrocorax penicillatus

Despite a very late start this year (compared to as early as February in past years), it looks like the cormorants at the end of the Coast Guard Pier are making headway with their nests... and have successfully booted off the young sea lions from the rocks. I have to say there doesn't seem to be quite as many cormorants as I've seen in past years.

grunion greeting, 2009 #4

cormorant & grunion
new moon cycle (11:25pm - 1:05am), overcast skies

It's a little disturbing at how many dead or injured birds we've seen this year, including during our grunion watching. I'm guessing the dead black bird is a cormorant. There have been reports about dead birds on the beaches.

We went out earlier than requested at 11:05pm, because the night heron (we've started calling "him" Charlie) was already hunting on the berm the previous 2 grunion nights when we arrived. As expected, he was at his favorite hunting spot, about 20 yards from the pier and between the 6th and 7th parking meters from the bathroom. We saw our first grunions immediately from the pier before we could even get down to the beach. Unfortunately, Charlie flew off shortly after we got down to the beach; we wonder if he was already full or simply didn't want to deal with us chasing after him every time he caught a fish. There was also a pelican diving into the water throughout our time on the beach.

We counted 19 total grunion in 2s or 3s: 12 by us from 11:05-11:35pm; 4 by Diane a fellow grunion greeter and her MBA friend from 11:45pm-12:15am; and 3 by all of us at 12:20am.

Since this was the first time after the workshop night that fellow grunion greeters were at Del Monte Beach, we left Diane and her friend shortly after they arrived and headed down the beach together to the cement structure with hopes to find other grunion "hot spots." No such luck, but it was very peaceful and meditative. The city lights reflecting off the clouds made it easier to see compared to clear skies and a full moon. The no-flash pic above is brighter and more orange than it actually was.

Just like the previous time, it was challenging to take a picture of the skedaddling grunion. They're awfully quick!

Brandt's cormorant
Phalacrocorax penicillatus

I wish I kept records of my observations from the past few years. Hopefully, this blog will motivate me to write down what I see, complete with dates!

I've witnessed the cormorants starting to build nests as early the first week of February. (honestly, I only know this b/c a friend of mine keeps a nature journal with dates and asked me when we're going out to check the cormorants). It's a very noticeable event, because they force the older, massive sea lions off the rocks... which is funny to think about - this dinky bird "bossing around" several-hundred pound, typically obstinate animals... plus, the rocks turn a bright white from all the poop. The courting cormorants are fun to watch as they stretch back their necks to reveal the brilliant blue throat patches. I think it was 2005 or 2006 when they successfully bred and laid eggs without interruption such that they had humongous, demanding chicks by this time of year. The poor parents often look smaller than their young by the time the chicks are ready to leave the nest. However, the past few years, they stopped building nests, disappeared, started again, stopped, disappeared, etc... Last year (or was it this year?), I thought a few late-season storms may have washed away their nests. It's odd to me that egg-laying doesn't happen at the same time each year, let alone within 3 months' time. I read in a Monterey Herald article that the cormorants have a "flexible" breeding schedule. This year there are very few cormorants and it seems very late for them to start building nests for the 3rd time this year. Notice the young sea lions in the background? In years past, older sea lions didn't appear to go on top of rocks until late in the chick-raising season. I know very little about birds, so I don't have my ornithology terminology down. I wonder what's going on.

Brandt's cormorant ~ 05/05/09 ~ Hopkins

best guess Brandt's cormorant
best guess Phalacrocorax penicillatus

This was a very odd scene right off the beach where most of our local harbor seals hangout north of Hopkins. We don't often see cormorants in large groups in the water at this location.

Initially, I wasn't sure which cormorant these were since, we also have pelagic and I think double-crested cormorants. Thanks to a small snippet of info from MBA, Brandt's cormorants hunt cooperatively. So, I'm making my best guess.