Chirps and Cheeps

I took a quick trip to Sinking Ponds in East Aurora this evening, hoping to get a few shots of the Belted Kingfisher.  I did see the Kingfisher - well, actually - I saw TWO Kingfishers tonight: both the male AND the female. It was the first time I've seen the male there.

The real treat and surprise of the evening, though, was a life list addition: a Double-crested Cormorant! A juvenile, I believe, due to his lighter coloring. This is quite a unique bird with the most brilliant aquamarine eyes I've ever seen on a bird. Beautiful!  Many thanks to Joanna, who kindly helped with his identification and some interesting facts.

I just read up about my new bird friend and found out that the Cormorant is a relative of frigate birds and boobies and eats mainly fish. They have less preen oil than other birds, so they need to dry out their wet feathers after being in the water. This bird is also solid-boned, making him rather heavy and a low floater in the water.  These 2 things combine to make the cormorant a swift and agile diver and underwater swimmer. I didn't get to see this guy do any diving but he did go in the water and then spread his wings magnificently afterwards to dry out - giving me some nice photo ops!

One more cool fact: the inside of the Double-crested Cormorant's mouth is bright blue! I didn't get to confirm that, though!

I got a few photos of the two Belted Kingfishers too, but not the great quality shots I was hoping for.  I will try again.  In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the few photos of the pair that I'm posting - even a couple of the little fishy meal the male caught...