Hi Tweets,

On May 17th, Heather and I were scoping a colony of nesting Double-crested
Cormorants on the breakwater next to the marina of Drayton Harbor (across
from Semiahmoo Resort). From the marina I counted 120 birds, although
there could have been more on birds tucked in on the other side, as well.

We were enjoying the fact the you could actually see the 'double-crests' on
the cormorant. To me they looked like large black Groucho Marx bushy
eyebrows that often stuck out at 90 degrees from the head when the wind hit
them right. There is a great head illustration of the crests in the
National Geographic Guide on the first plate of cormorants titled
'Double-crested eastern breeding adult' and for some reason not on the
following page where the DC Cormorant is fully illustrated.

All my bird guides illustrate that the western form of DC Cormorant (P. a.
albociliatus) should have white plume feathers for the crests and not the
bushy black crests. I scanned the whole flock carefully and only managed
to find two birds with white crests and their white crests were thin and
wispy.

Can anybody shed any additional light on this? Also of interest were two
Black Oystercatchers working around the jetty.

Thank you,

Marcus Roening
Critical & Supportive Care
Tacoma, WA
marcus.d.roening at gsk.com
C: (253) 988 8313