[Length 34 in. Wingspan 48 in.]

This Brandt's Cormorant was photographed along the coast near Santa Maria, California, USA. Photo taken with a Nikkor 300mm EDAF f4.0 lens on Kodachrome 200 film. (Date: September 1997)

[Length 34 in. Wingspan 48 in.]

This Brandt's Cormorant in flight was photographed along the coast near Santa Maria, California, USA. Photo taken with a Nikkor 300mm EDAF f4.0 lens on Kodachrome 200 film. (Date: September 1997)

[Length 34 in. Wingspan 48 in.]

This Brandt's Cormorant was photographed on the Coast Guard jetty at Monterey, California, USA. Photo taken with a Nikkor 300mm ED f4.5 lens on Kodachrome 64 film. (Date: November 1981)

[Length 33 in. Wingspan 52 in.]

The Double-crested Cormorant is brownish black year-round. In breeding plumage it is a shinier black, with a bright orange gular (throat) pouch. For a very brief period during the breeding season, two feather tufts (from which the bird gets its name) are visible on the head. It resembles a Loon as it swims and dives. The Double-crested Cormorant has one of the strangest breeding ranges of any bird, being found in a ring around North America. It inhabits coastal waters, inland lakes, and rivers along the west coast from the inner Aleutians to the tip of Baja California and down the west coast of Mexico, along the east coast from Newfoundland to Cuba, across the Gulf Coast to just south of the tip of Texas, and then up the Rio Grande into New Mexico. It also nests up the Mississippi River to the Great Lakes and across the northern prairies in the midwest and in southern Canada. The birds disperse coastally and southward in the winter, sometimes gathering in roosts of up to a quarter million birds at some inland lakes. This Double-crested Cormorant was photographed at Ding Darling NWR, Florida, USA. Photo taken with a Nikkor 300mm EDAF f4.0 lens on Kodachrome 200 film. (Date: October 1991)

[Length 33 in. Wingspan 52 in.]

This Double-crested Cormorant was photographed on one of the islands of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel in Virginia, USA. Photo taken with a Nikkor 300mm EDAF f4.0 lens on Kodachrome 200 film. (Date: May 1990)

[Length 33 in. Wingspan 52 in.]

This Double-crested Cormorant was photographed at Bolivar Peninsula, Texas, USA. Photo taken with a Nikkor 70-200mm EDAF-S VR f2.8 lens + Nikkor TC14E II 1.4x Teleconverter (EFL=405mm) on a Nikon D100 camera. (Date: May 9, 2006)

[Length 33 in. Wingspan 52 in.]

This Double-crested Cormorant in flight was photographed at the Andrews Bird Viewing Trail, Andrews, Texas, USA. Photo taken with a AF-S VR Zoom-Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G IF-ED lens (EFL=450mm) on a Nikon D200 camera. (Date: November 26, 2008)

[Length 33 in. Wingspan 52 in.]

This Double-crested Cormorant was photographed at Lake Balmorhea, Balmorhea, Texas, USA. Photo taken with a AF-S VR Nikkor 300mm f/2.8G IF-ED lens + Nikkor TC20E II 2.0x Teleconverter (EFL=900mm) on a Nikon D200 camera. (Date: December 19, 2008)

[Length 33 in. Wingspan 52 in.]

This Double-crested Cormorant was photographed at Boca Chica Beach, Brownsville, Texas, USA. Photo taken with a AF-S VR Nikkor 300mm f/2.8G IF-ED lens (EFL=450mm) on a Nikon D7000 camera. (Date: January 23, 2012)