Birds in Nature - images of wild birds by Richard Ditch

Subject: Neotropic Cormorant (Phalacrocorax brasilianus)
Place: Scottsdale, AZ, USA
Date: June 5, 2002
Equipment: Nikon N90S, Nikkor AF-S 300/2.8 & TC20E (= 600/5.6), tripod
Film: Fujichrome Sensia 100
Exposure: Aperture priority matrix metered, natural light, no fill flash
Scan: Minolta Dimage, 90% of frame

Commentary: Neotropic Cormorants are birds of central America that reach their northern limit in southern Texas and Arizona. They have increased in number and pushed further north in AZ in the eight years I've lived here, and now can be found around Phoenix. They look a lot like the more numerous Double-crested Cormorant, differing is size, length of tail, and coloring around the face and throat.

This bird was photographed where an unlikely Brandt's Cormorant had been reported the previous day - a bird never seen before in AZ, and rarely away from the immediate Pacific coast. The report caused quite a stir, and birders looking for it a few hours later reported a Double-crested Cormorant in the same spot. When I visited the spot the following afternoon with the person who reported the Brandt's, this is the only cormorant we found.

Even in the bright Arizona afternoon sun, I had trouble seing much color on the bill of this bird, or making out the shape of the gular patch. Without any other cormornat nearby, it was not possible to judge if this was a "small" or "large" cormorant. Careful observation with a 30x scope and looking at 36 slides of the bird made me more confident of the correct ID.