Cormorants are NOT early birds

The past two mornings there has not been a single bird in the cormorant tree. Do they not like the cold weather? The roar of bike week? Perhaps the opposite is true and they have been out partying. What a relief when I drove by at 6:30 (PM) and the right side of the tree (they're conservative) was decorated with more birds than I could count while operating a moving vehicle. (yes, green light and yes, if you hear of a rear end collision at that intersection start praying it isn't me.) When I am not dodging cars, I am staring at bird beaks and I tell you I cannot see the cormorant hook. I had a light bulb moment - binoculars! OK, I can see it now and already it feels awkward. I park the car at the 7-11 and walk down Nova on the sidewalk, camera on my wrist, b'nocks around my neck. Oh, wait, I don't own binoculars - I'll have to borrow mom's. Ahh, I'll be stopping traffic for sure!

And a cormorant in a bare tree

Every day, on my way to work, I check on a special tree. It is near the intersection of Nova and Big Tree and is is a cormorant hangout. In the mornings it is lightly inhabited, maybe 6-10 birds, however, one morning recently, the dark birds stood out eerily against a thick morning fog. It was mesmerizing and I stared at it as long as I safely could. My favorite time to see the tree is at dusk when the birds dark colors have the perfect background, a twilight blue. It is also when the most birds adorn the branches, sometimes as many as 25.

The tree has only recently caught my attention. I believe that is either because the birds have only recently discovered it or its winter bareness has just made the birds visible. It is my goal to photograph the tree but I will need to do it soon, before the tree is leafy green and possibly before time change Sunday, March 14. I anticpate that it will feel awkward because I will have to park the car and walk down the Nova sidewalk. We'll see if that happens. I already scoped out the view from inside the mobile home park and it is not photo worthy.

Finally, to all my birder friends, my humblest apologies if I have, once again, incorrectly identified the anhinga as the comorant. Please go see the tree for yourself.