Though I sadly missed shots of many smaller birds on my San Juan Islands excursion with Puget Sound Express last week, I didn’t miss them all. Cormorants posed on piers, driftwood, and rocks as we passed.
Occasionally they took flight.
I spied great blue herons now and then.
We saw lots and lots of rhinoceros auklets and even though these are small I have to post a tiny sample since these are such pretty specimens. Auklets are alcids, common residents here during spring and summer. They’re the chubby black birds with white markings in the center of the shot. There are shorebirds on either side of them, along with a duck. Auklets generally hang out in deep salt water and dive for fish.
Late note: I’ve incorrectly identified the rhinoceros auklets. These are in fact male harlequin ducks. My mistake. I’m certain they were correctly identified on our journey. My memory is at fault. For more details click on today’s comment section and see the comment from Paul from Powell River, a superb blogger and knowledgeable birder.
How come you know so much about birds? The cormorant is very similar to the anhingas we have in these parts. But I wouldn’t know an auklet from an anklet. It looks like the sea was kicking up in that 2nd shot. I’d probably have to have a dramamine or two!
Lots of cormorants! And I’m going to have to point out a correction – those aren’t auklets in the bottom photo, they’re male Harlequins. The bird to the left is the female, the one on the right is a Black Turnstone, as is the one on the left of the female Harlequin. Harlequins are very common on the coast from early fall till late spring, auklets very, very rare on shore. Sorry! 🙂
My mistake! We did see lots of auklets and these looked to me like the ones in my bird book. I’m sure they were correctly identified at the time and I must have remembered wrong.
The heron’s my favourite. I’ve recently seen them back up here now that winter’s over.
Herons and cormorants are familiar in SWFL, but auklets? Never seen them and never heard of them.