11 April 2014 - Beaky, Eyes and Wow!

This morning I got out early--the search was on for a horned grebe. I was headed for a pond where some sightings had been reported. No grebes, but a couple of wows. 

The first wow was an osprey.  That is one wicked looking beak. 

While I was walking around the pond looking for the grebe, I was watching a clutch of cormorants. As usual, they were hanging out with the pelicans. However, they were particularly interesting for several reasons. 

First, these were double-crested cormorants. Normally, their crests don't show, but today they were definitely flaunting their crests.  Second, I discovered the inside of their mouths are blue. And third, oh my god, their eyes! Beautiful! They don't look like they can possibly be real. 

 Look at these eyes! All the little white spokes around the edge. Just amazing.

This is a rather magnificent bird when you see it up close. I will never dismiss them again as "just a cormorant" again.