Double-crested Cormorant

I made the statement a couple of months ago that Double-crested Cormorants were one of my favorite birds. That might have been a little strong. There are a lot of birds to choose favorites from. Even so, the Double-crested has some very interesting features, especially if you can get in close.
I was feeling better yesterday, so I bundled up and headed out to a Wintler Park on the Vancouver, WA side of the Columbia River. I had never been there before, but I had heard that Barrow's Goldeneyes had been seen there the day before. Since I have never seen a Barrow's, I thought I'd give it a try. I was successful on this bird chase and was able to get some reasonable pictures. I also saw a Common Loon, Western Grebe, Horned Grebe and loads of Lesser and Greater Scaups in various rafts on the river.
But as great as all that was, I have spent a lot of time chasing birds lately and while I have had some success, most of the pictures I get are of birds off in the distance. I like to get in close to the birds, so I decided that before the day was over, I'd make a trip over to Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden. Birding for water fowl there can sometimes be like shooting fish in a barrel, especially if visitors are feeding the ducks, but you can't beat how close you can get.
The duck population was pretty good when I got there and they were being fed. But the bird that caught my eye again were the Double-crested Cormorants. I saw one on a log protruding out into the pond in the same place I had seen my first last Spring as you can see in the top image.
The second one I saw was diving just off shore a little further up the trail. I played cat and mouse with it similar to the Eared Grebe I saw last week at Fernhill Wetlands. I got several photos of it with the best one seen above.