A gulp of cormorants (yes, a gulp! of cormorants like a pod of whales or a murder of crows or a pride of lions) perched in a dead tree snag along side Lynx Lake in Prescott National Forest Friday afternoon. These are doubled crested cormorants but because mating season appears to be over, their double crests aren’t apparent.
According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Double-crested Cormorants from a distance, appear to be dark birds with snaky necks, but up-close they’re quite colorful—with orange-yellow skin on their face and throat, striking aquamarine eyes that sparkle like jewels, and a mouth that is bright blue on the inside. I never saw the inside of the mouth but was startled to see their blue eyes.
