{"id":56042,"date":"2019-02-12T05:40:50","date_gmt":"2019-02-12T12:40:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=56042"},"modified":"2025-05-18T06:30:17","modified_gmt":"2025-05-18T11:30:17","slug":"landing-immature-double-crested-cormorant-seeking-safety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/02\/12\/landing-immature-double-crested-cormorant-seeking-safety\/","title":{"rendered":"Landing Immature Double-crested Cormorant Seeking Safety"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ImmatureImmature Double-crested Cormorant landing on a pond – Nikon D500, f8, 1\/2500, ISO 640, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Yesterday afternoon I was photographing a Great Blue Heron close to home when I noticed a familiar figure walking on the other side of the pond. There is a woman who seems to walk her large dog around the pond at about the same time every day, the thing is that she frequently doesn’t leash her dog even though the signs at the pond state that it is required.<\/p>\n

I don’t know why she thinks that is okay at all because her dog scares the birds that are resting on the shore of the pond and she must certainly see them all taking flight in front of her dog. It would be very hard to miss.<\/p>\n

Yesterday afternoon the woman’s dog scared up an immature Double-crested Cormorant which had been sunning at the shoreline who then took flight and flew towards the center of the pond.<\/p>\n

I was able to lock on and photograph the young Double-crested Cormorant as it prepared to land on the cold, blue waters of the pond and the safety it provided.<\/p>\n

This immature Double-crested Cormorant appears to be molting and probably needs all the rest it can get because of the molt and because winter is hard on these overwintering cormorants.<\/p>\n

\"ImmatureImmature Double-crested Cormorant splash down – Nikon D500, f8, 1\/2500, ISO 640, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

The young Double-crested Cormorant splashed down safely in the middle of the pond far from the reach of the unleashed dog.<\/p>\n

There was another immature cormorant on the other end of the pond and it probably flew towards the safety of the open water when the woman and her dog walked past it but by that time I was heading home and wouldn’t have seen it.<\/p>\n

I did enjoy photographing a few other birds at Willow Pond Park besides this cormorant and I will share those photos soon.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Double-crested Cormorant photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This immature Double-crested Cormorant appears to be molting and probably needs all the rest it can get because of the molt and because winter is hard on these overwintering cormorants. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":144620,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,144,709,26],"tags":[5548,5200,149,4067,4123,2313,4173,1984,6960,8018,16369,373,4193],"class_list":["post-56042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-double-crested-cormorant","category-salt-lake-county-utah","category-utah","tag-cormorant","tag-cormorants","tag-double-crested-cormorant","tag-immature","tag-landing","tag-molting","tag-nannopterum-auritus","tag-pond","tag-splash-down","tag-urban","tag-willow-pond-park","tag-winter","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/double-crested-cormorant-immature-landing-mia-mcpherson-1651.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-ezU","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":55188,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/12\/02\/immature-double-crested-cormorant-flight-in-golden-afternoon-light\/","url_meta":{"origin":56042,"position":0},"title":"Immature Double-crested Cormorant Flight In Golden Afternoon Light","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 2, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"One of the birds I took images of that afternoon was an immature Double-crested Cormorant that flew past me in that golden light just barely above the surface of the pond.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Double-crested Cormorant flight in golden light, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/double-crested-cormorant-flight-golden-light-mia-mcpherson-0456.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/double-crested-cormorant-flight-golden-light-mia-mcpherson-0456.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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"Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Immature Double-crested Cormorant drying its wings, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/double-crested-cormorant-hatch-year-mia-mcpherson-9716.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/double-crested-cormorant-hatch-year-mia-mcpherson-9716.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/double-crested-cormorant-hatch-year-mia-mcpherson-9716.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/double-crested-cormorant-hatch-year-mia-mcpherson-9716.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":112566,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/04\/14\/landing-double-crested-cormorant-reflections\/","url_meta":{"origin":56042,"position":2},"title":"Landing Double-crested Cormorant Reflections","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 14, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Last Sunday, when April and I were photographing birds together, I took images of this adult Double-crested Cormorant landing on funky reflections.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Double-crested Cormorant sliding on water with colorful reflections, Salt Lake County, 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Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/double-crested-cormorant-wings-mia-mcpherson-3146.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/double-crested-cormorant-wings-mia-mcpherson-3146.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/double-crested-cormorant-wings-mia-mcpherson-3146.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/double-crested-cormorant-wings-mia-mcpherson-3146.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":127397,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/04\/09\/urban-double-crested-cormorant-photos-in-spring\/","url_meta":{"origin":56042,"position":4},"title":"Urban Double-crested Cormorant Photos In Spring","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 9, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"While looking at my Common Loon photos from last spring, I came across these Double-crested Cormorant photos that I took at the same time last year.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Spring Double-crested Cormorant checking me out, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/double-crested-cormorant-spring-pond-mia-mcpherson-2377.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/double-crested-cormorant-spring-pond-mia-mcpherson-2377.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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