When seal and cormorant meet
PeterD-2009
Registered Users Posts: 618 Major grins
A couple of days ago, I was walking my dog along Langstone Harbour shore, at Broadmarsh, when I spotted a seal fishing in the estuary of the Hermitage Stream. I know that they visit the harbour but this is the first time I have seen one here.
Click here for larger image > http://www.imageinuk.com/Mammals/Seal/A256991/1063930380_5ACnG-XL.jpg
The seal kept its distance from the shore, only briefly appearing on the surface. I was tracking it by watching the swirls on the water surface.
Meanwhile, across the other side of the estuary, several Cormorant were also fishing.
Suddenly, one Cormorant broke surface from a dive and took off without pausing on the surface of the water. Very unusual as the wings and body plumage would be soaking wet and consequentially heavy. Fortunately, this bird surfaced in the direction I was pointing my camera at so I managed to get a grab shot. It is not a work of art but the camera managed to capture the scene in the split second available. Unfortunately, ISO was down at 100 giving me a shutter speed of only 1/250s. Too slow to freeze wing movement and also too slow for the fl of 500mm (the IS helped in this though!).
Click here for larger images > http://www.imageinuk.com/Birds/Cormorants-Phalacrocoracidae/Cormorant-Phalacrocorax-carbo/A256996/1063947055_9GQjV-XL.jpg
My take on what probably happened is that both the Cormorant and Seal were chasing the same shoal of fish, met one-another and the Cormorant panicked.
You can see from the image how the weight of the water flattened this birds climb and nearly brought it back down onto the water.
I have been advised by a couple of people that seals have been known to take birds from beneath. Toss them in the air like play things before eating them. The conclusion reached was that this was a quick witted bird and that its actions probably saved its life. Certainly it demonstrates its agility under water and its strength in flight.
Comments welcome as always.
Thanks for viewing.
Click here for larger image > http://www.imageinuk.com/Mammals/Seal/A256991/1063930380_5ACnG-XL.jpg
The seal kept its distance from the shore, only briefly appearing on the surface. I was tracking it by watching the swirls on the water surface.
Meanwhile, across the other side of the estuary, several Cormorant were also fishing.
Suddenly, one Cormorant broke surface from a dive and took off without pausing on the surface of the water. Very unusual as the wings and body plumage would be soaking wet and consequentially heavy. Fortunately, this bird surfaced in the direction I was pointing my camera at so I managed to get a grab shot. It is not a work of art but the camera managed to capture the scene in the split second available. Unfortunately, ISO was down at 100 giving me a shutter speed of only 1/250s. Too slow to freeze wing movement and also too slow for the fl of 500mm (the IS helped in this though!).
Click here for larger images > http://www.imageinuk.com/Birds/Cormorants-Phalacrocoracidae/Cormorant-Phalacrocorax-carbo/A256996/1063947055_9GQjV-XL.jpg
My take on what probably happened is that both the Cormorant and Seal were chasing the same shoal of fish, met one-another and the Cormorant panicked.
You can see from the image how the weight of the water flattened this birds climb and nearly brought it back down onto the water.
I have been advised by a couple of people that seals have been known to take birds from beneath. Toss them in the air like play things before eating them. The conclusion reached was that this was a quick witted bird and that its actions probably saved its life. Certainly it demonstrates its agility under water and its strength in flight.
Comments welcome as always.
Thanks for viewing.
0
Comments
I am glad you posted this, I live where i can see these birds on a daily basis, and cant recall ever seeing a cormorant do this. It a great behavior capture. I now you are wishing it was a sharper picture, but your timing was great.
http://rckimaging.smugmug.com/
Seal is just so cute
Good capture and story
Gale
www.pbase.com/techwish
Thanks for your comments. Cormorant are plentiful in the harbour here too. It was this bird's behaviour that really made me think something abnormal had occurred below the water.
Thanks for your comments. I always thought that seals went for fish exclusively. Just goes to show my ignorance. Had it not been for this incident, I would have carried on thinking that way.
Peter
http://www.imageinuk.com