In today’s installment of “Mystery Creatures at Haserot Beach” (at least it’s not dead like this one), I give you this mystery bird that was perched on a mooring buoy in Old Mission Harbor.
We spotted the bird as we pulled into Haserot Beach on our daily drive around the OMP a couple days ago. It’s a fairly large bird with brown feathers, a long tail, and a long yellow beak that hooks a little at the end.
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Here’s a close-up of its head. My camera was being grouchy that day, so the photos are a little grainy.
Here are a few more pics – also grainy. The last one is the grainiest, but you can see that when he puts his head in a certain position, he’s sporting sort of an Elvis look.
If you know what this mystery bird is, tell us in the comments section at the bottom of this story.
Looks like a cormorant.
Looks like a cormorant
Definitely a Cormorant
I vote cormorant too although it is not black. I’ve been watching these lately from Haserot Beach. The behavior is cormorant. Called snake birds. They drive down and swim and pop up elsewhere. Fun to watch.
It’s a coramet. They come in a variety of colors.
It’s a cormorant all right. They have taken a shine to perching on the mooring buoys in Old Mission Bay. It is a treat to watch them try to balance on the buoys in the waves. They didn’t show up until August. Great fishermen.
I agree it’s probably a juvenile cormorant which can be brown.
fish eating pests
a cormorant the hooked bill is used for slicing the dorsel fin of fish and is a very deep diver staying under water for several minutes at a time
Cormorant for sure
Double-crested cormorant.
Looks like a Double Crested Cormorant. Fun to watch them fish. They will dive under and come up some 20′ away.
https://www.google.com/search?q=double%20crested%20cormorant&tbm=isch&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CCIQtI8BKAJqFwoTCNjN0dLvwvMCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAT&biw=1178&bih=812