The taking of this images exemplifies the difference between a “Birder” and a “Bird Photographer”. I was doing my normal prowl around Plum Island beach when I saw a bird I didn’t recognise so I started photographing it. After a little while lying in the sand getting my shots I realized that there were two other people close by – they were getting all excited about the bird, to the extent that they scared it off. So I got up and asked them what I was photographing, they looked shocked, they had travelled miles to see this rare bird that had been reported on the “birding” blogs
The East coast has several cormorant species but this is a Double-Crested Cormorant although you hardly ever see the crests up.
This GBH was standing in its usual spot just preening like normal when it did this. My finger must have been on the shutter release as you normally only get images of the aftermath of sudden events like this. I like the bits of feather still floating in the air
