Last week I videoed activities at a heron rookery
located along the Yakima River at the Satus
Wildlife Refuge. Here Great Blue Heron and
Double-crested Cormorants nest in the same trees;
often disputing the same nests. Spring time
activities are just beginning. A couple of heron
began the reproductive process on video while
several cormorants thought seriously about it but
couldn't settle down long enough to do it.

I will be following the action at the rookery
over the next few weeks and post new images as
biology unfolds. Four or 5 heron seem to be
incubating eggs at the moment. So far as I can
tell none of the cormorants are that far along.

I have added a section ( heron rookery) to my web
site which now contains images of the heron and
cormorants plus images some other birds that
happened to be in the vicinity. The URL is
http://www.angelfire.com/wa/minkgi

As I reviewed yesterday's video for still images I
noticed that one of the 20+ cormorants on the
tape had what appear to be two snow white crests
rather than the normal black ones. I put some
images of this individual on the web site as the
bird was some distance away but the white crests
show up clearly on the images. My question is do
any of you experienced birders know whether or
not white crests is a common phenomenon with
double-crested cormorants? I would appreciate any
information on this subject so I will know what to
look for next time out.

Gaylord Mink
Prosser, WA