Hook, line, and sinker

Double-crested Cormorant, La Jolla Cove, La Jolla California

We will drop back a few weeks into February and my trip to San Diego for the Birding Festival there. I always enjoy visiting the Cove at La Jolla, north of San Diego proper. It is just a 30 minute drive through up-scale communities along the coast from our convention center in Mission Beach, and the cliffs there are home to hundreds of nesting Cormorants and Pelicans. This Double-crested is in full breeding plumage, showing its crests and the patterning in wing feathers. It also displays the hazards of living in a popular sport fishing area. It clearly has a hook embedded in its gullet. Folks who know say that the hooks do not last long. The Cormorant’s body dissolves the iron of the hook and the nylon line falls away. Iron is temporary. Nylon is eternal. 🙁 Still, it can not be comfortable having the hook embedded…though it does not seem to have kept this cormorant from feeding. It certainly looks healthy and just a bit dapper in its breeding finery. Sony RX10iv at the 600mm. Program mode. -.3EV 1/1000th @ f7.1 @ ISO 100. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.

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