Brandt’s Cormorant
Urile penicillatus
True sea birds, Brandt’s Cormorants inhabit the Pacific coast of North America from southern Alaska to Mexico, including Baja California and the mainland south to Puerto Vallarta. They aren’t known to visit freshwater environs as its Double-Crested cousins will. Their primary nesting territories are along the California coast, where they take advantage of the fish and squid food sources delivered from the Northern Pacific Ocean by the California current.
I’ve been fortunate with opportunities to observe colonies of Brandt’s Cormorants nesting in La Jolla (California), my father’s birthplace. There, they can be seen from street-level walkways without causing a disturbance to the nesting birds. In the spring of 2012, I made frequent trips there and enjoyed watching them during courting, nest-building, egg-laying, baby raising, and fledging.
I found the following passage at Cornell Labs Birds of The World: “The naming of Brandt’s Cormorant highlights the involvement of Russian naturalists in early North American ornithology. J. F. Brandt (for whom the species is named), of the Academy of Sciences at St. Petersburg, first described Brandt’s Cormorant in 1838. His description was based on a specimen, now missing, and of unknown origin and an unknown collector, which he found among the skins at the Zoological Museum at St. Petersburg. The specimen likely was collected by Russian naturalists during one of several expeditions to the Pacific Coast of North America during the early 1800s.”
This bird was formerly classified under the genus Phalacrocorax, but in 2014, along with two other species of cormorant, were reclassified to the genus Urile.
Brandt's Cormorant(Urile penicillatus) |
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Description: Near The Cove. La Jolla, California. San Diego County. |
Date Taken: 2012:03:02 13:36 |
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Location:
La Jolla |
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Camera Information: NIKON D3X, 800 mm, f/5.6, 1/2500 |
File Name: D3X7803-BrandtsCormorant |
| © 2012 Jack Daynes, shadeTree-Imaging |
Brandt's Cormorant(Urile penicillatus) |
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Description: Near The Cove. La Jolla, California. San Diego County. |
Date Taken: 2011:04:20 14:17 |
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Camera Information: NIKON D3X, 800 mm, f/5.6, 1/400 |
File Name: JCD7429-BrandtsCormorant |
| © 2011 Jack Daynes, shadeTreeImaging.com |
Brandt's Cormorant(Urile penicillatus) |
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Description: Nesting season at the Cove. Image captured from a day at the La Jolla Cove. San Diego County California. |
Date Taken: 2011:04:20 14:17 |
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Camera Information: NIKON D3X, 800 mm, f/5.6, 1/500 |
File Name: JCD7426-BrandtsCormorant |
| © 2011 Jack Daynes, shadeTreeImaging.com |
Brandt's Cormorant(Urile penicillatus) |
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Description: Near The Cove. La Jolla, California. San Diego County. |
Date Taken: 2011:04:14 9:06 |
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Camera Information: NIKON D3X, 800 mm, f/5.6, 1/200 |
File Name: JCD7083_BrandtsCormorant-Nest |
| © 2011 Jack Daynes, shadeTreeImaging.com |
Brandt's Cormorant(Urile penicillatus) |
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Description: Nesting season at the Cove. Image captured from a day at the La Jolla Cove. San Diego County California. |
Date Taken: 2012:03:02 14:38 |
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Location:
La Jolla Cove |
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Camera Information: NIKON D3X, 800 mm, f/5.6, 1/250 |
File Name: D3X7876-BrandtsCormorant-Nest |
| © 2012 Jack Daynes, shadeTreeImaging.com |
Brandt's Cormorant(Urile penicillatus) |
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Description: Nesting season at the Cove. Image captured from a day at the La Jolla Cove. San Diego County California.v |
Date Taken: 2012:03:02 14:37 |
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Location:
La Jolla |
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Camera Information: NIKON D3X, 800 mm, f/5.6, 1/400 |
File Name: D3X7869-BrandtsCormorant-Nest |
| © 2012 Jack Daynes, shadeTree-Imaging |
Brandt's Cormorant(Urile penicillatus) |
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Description: Nesting season at the Cove begins with pair bonding displays. Image captured from a day at the La Jolla Cove. San Diego County California. |
Date Taken: 2012:03:02 14:35 |
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Location:
La Jolla |
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Camera Information: NIKON D3X, 800 mm, f/5.6, 1/250 |
File Name: D3X7864-BrandtsCormorant-Nest |
| © 2012 Jack Daynes, shadeTree-Imaging |
Brandt's Cormorant(Urile penicillatus) |
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Description: Nesting season at the Cove. Image captured from a day at the La Jolla Cove. San Diego County California. |
Date Taken: 2012:03:02 14:32 |
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Location:
La Jolla |
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Camera Information: NIKON D3X, 800 mm, f/5.6, 1/2000 |
File Name: D3X7851-BrandtsCormorant-Nest |
| © 2012 Jack Daynes, shadeTree-Imaging |
Brandt's Cormorant(Urile penicillatus) |
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Description: Near The Cove. La Jolla, California. San Diego County. |
Date Taken: 2012:02:16 13:51 |
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Location:
La Jolla |
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Camera Information: NIKON D3X, 800 mm, f/5.6, 1/1250 |
File Name: D3X7154-BrandtsCormorant |
| © 2012 Jack Daynes, shadeTree-Imaging |
Brandt's Cormorant(Urile penicillatus) |
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Description: Near The Cove. La Jolla, California. San Diego County. |
Date Taken: 2012:03:02 13:21 |
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Location:
La Jolla |
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Camera Information: NIKON D3X, 800 mm, f/5.6, 1/2500 |
File Name: D3X7659-BrandtsCormorant |
| © 2012 Jack Daynes, shadeTree-Imaging |
Brandt's Cormorant(Urile penicillatus) |
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Description: Parent feeds a juvenile, near the Cove. La Jolla, California. San Diego County. |
Date Taken: 2012:03:02 13:05 |
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Location:
La Jolla |
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Camera Information: NIKON D3X, 800 mm, f/5.6, 1/200 |
File Name: D3X7588-BrandtsCormorant-Nest |
| © 2012 Jack Daynes, shadeTree-Imaging |
Brandt's Cormorant(Urile penicillatus) |
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Description: Nesting season at the Cove. Image captured from a day at the La Jolla Cove. San Diego County California. |
Date Taken: 2012:03:02 13:04 |
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Location:
La Jolla |
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Camera Information: NIKON D3X, 800 mm, f/5.6, 1/200 |
File Name: D3X7569-BrandtsCormorant-Nest |
| © 2012 Jack Daynes, shadeTree-Imaging |
Brandt's Cormorant(Urile penicillatus) |
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Description: On a nest near The Cove. La Jolla, California. San Diego County. |
Date Taken: 2012:02:16 16:20 |
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Location:
La Jolla |
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Camera Information: NIKON D3X, 800 mm, f/5.6, 1/500 |
File Name: D3X7346-BrandtsCormorant-Nest |
| © 2012 Jack Daynes, shadeTree-Imaging |
Brandt's Cormorant(Urile penicillatus) |
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Description: Nesting season at the Cove. Image captured from a day at the La Jolla Cove. San Diego County California. |
Date Taken: 2012:02:16 15:23 |
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Location:
La Jolla |
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Camera Information: NIKON D3X, 800 mm, f/5.6, 1/500 |
File Name: D3X7309-BrandtsCormorant |
| © 2012 Jack Daynes, shadeTree-Imaging |
Brandt's Cormorant(Urile penicillatus) |
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Description: Back from foraging at sea near The Cove. La Jolla, California. San Diego County. |
Date Taken: 2012:02:16 15:23 |
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Location:
La Jolla Cove |
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Camera Information: NIKON D3X, 800 mm, f/5.6, 1/3200 |
File Name: D3X7307-BrandtsCormorant |
| © 2012 Jack Daynes, shadeTreeImaging.com |
Brandt's Cormorant(Urile penicillatus) |
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Description: Raising families near the Cove. La Jolla, California. San Diego County. |
Date Taken: 2012:02:16 15:20 |
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Location:
Point La Jolla |
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Camera Information: NIKON D3X, 800 mm, f/5.6, 1/160 |
File Name: D3X7304-BrandtsCormorant-Nest |
| © 2012 Jack Daynes, shadeTreeImaging.com |
Brandt's Cormorant(Urile penicillatus) |
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Description: On a nest near The Cove. La Jolla, California. San Diego County. |
Date Taken: 2012:02:16 15:16 |
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Location:
La Jolla |
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Camera Information: NIKON D3X, 800 mm, f/5.6, 1/320 |
File Name: D3X7294-BrandtsCormorant-Nest |
| © 2012 Jack Daynes, shadeTree-Imaging |
Brandt's Cormorant(Urile penicillatus) |
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Description: Changing of the guard at the Cove. La Jolla, California. San Diego County. |
Date Taken: 2012:02:16 15:31 |
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Location:
La Jolla Cove |
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Camera Information: NIKON D3X, 800 mm, f/5.6, 1/500 |
File Name: D3X7331-BrandtsCormorant-Nest |
| © 2012 Jack Daynes, shadeTreeImaging.com |
Brandt's Cormorant(Urile penicillatus) |
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Description: Raising the next generation near the Cove. La Jolla, California. San Diego County. |
Date Taken: 2012:03:19 13:36 |
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Location:
La Jolla |
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Camera Information: NIKON D3X, 800 mm, f/5.6, 1/500 |
File Name: D3X8505-BrandtsCormorant |
| © 2012 Jack Daynes, shadeTreeImaging.com |
Brandt's Cormorant(Urile penicillatus) |
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Description: Raising the next generation near the Cove. La Jolla, California. San Diego County. |
Date Taken: 2012:03:19 13:45 |
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Location:
La Jolla |
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Camera Information: NIKON D3X, 800 mm, f/5.6, 1/400 |
File Name: D3X8539-BrandtsCormorant |
| © 2012 Jack Daynes, shadeTreeImaging.com |
Brandt's Cormorant(Urile penicillatus) |
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Description: Raising families near the Cove. La Jolla, California. San Diego County. |
Date Taken: 2012:03:19 15:36 |
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Location:
La Jolla |
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Camera Information: NIKON D3X, 800 mm, f/5.6, 1/1250 |
File Name: D3X8687-BrandtsCormorant |
| © 2012 Jack Daynes, shadeTreeImaging.com |
Brandt's Cormorant(Urile penicillatus) |
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Description: Raising families near the Cove. La Jolla, California. San Diego County. |
Date Taken: 2012:04:08 10:57 |
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Location:
La Jolla Cove |
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Camera Information: NIKON D3X, 800 mm, f/5.6, 1/500 |
File Name: D3X9984-BrandtsCormorant |
| © 2012 Jack Daynes, shadeTreeImaging.com |
Brandt's Cormorant(Urile penicillatus) |
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Description: Raising families near the Cove. La Jolla, California. San Diego County. |
Date Taken: 2012:04:08 11:30 |
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Location:
La Jolla Cove |
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Camera Information: NIKON D3X, 800 mm, f/5.6, 1/500 |
File Name: D3X0038-BrandtsCormorant |
| © 2012 Jack Daynes, shadeTreeImaging.com |
Brandt's Cormorant(Urile penicillatus) |
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Description: Raising families near the Cove. La Jolla, California. San Diego County. |
Date Taken: 2012:04:11 10:19 |
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Location:
La Jolla Cove |
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Camera Information: NIKON D3X, 800 mm, f/5.6, 1/1000 |
File Name: D3X0270-BrandtsCormorant |
| © 2012 Jack Daynes, shadeTreeImaging.com |
Brandt's Cormorant(Urile penicillatus) |
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Description: Raising families near the Cove. La Jolla, California. San Diego County. |
Date Taken: 2012:05:01 7:44 |
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Location:
La Jolla Cove |
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Camera Information: NIKON D3X, 800 mm, f/5.6, 1/80 |
File Name: D3X1795-BrandtsCormorant-Copulation |
| © 2012 Jack Daynes, shadeTreeImaging.com |
Brandt's Cormorant(Urile penicillatus) |
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Description: Raising families near the Cove. La Jolla, California. San Diego County. |
Date Taken: 2012:05:01 7:53 |
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Location:
La Jolla Cove |
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Camera Information: NIKON D3X, 800 mm, f/5.6, 1/160 |
File Name: D3X1816-BrandtsCormorant |
| © 2012 Jack Daynes, shadeTreeImaging.com |
Brandt's Cormorant(Urile penicillatus) |
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Description: Blue eyes. Along the rocky coast south of Point La Jolla. La Jolla, San Diego County, California. |
Date Taken: 2014:09:09 9:09 |
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Location:
La Jolla |
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Camera Information: NIKON D3X, 800 mm, f/8.0, 1/400 |
File Name: D3X9978-BrandtsCormorant-Eye |
| © 2014 Jack Daynes, shadeTreeImaging.com |
Brandt's Cormorant(Urile penicillatus) |
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Description: Early morning feeding its young at the La Jolla Cove. One might believe the parent is eating it's young, so extreme is their method. San Diego California. |
Date Taken: 2018:07:15 8:23 |
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Location:
La Jolla Cove |
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Camera Information: NIKON D500, 800 mm, f/8.0, 1/1250 |
File Name: BrandtsCormorant-ParentFeeding-Fledgling_D504497-LaJolla |
| © 2018 Jack Daynes, shadeTreeImaging.com |
Brandt's Cormorant(Urile penicillatus) |
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Description: 2018-12-17: At the Cove in La Jolla. San Diego County, California (USA) |
Date Taken: 2018:12:17 12:57 |
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Location:
La Jolla Cove |
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Camera Information: NIKON D500, 400 mm, f/8.0, 1/4000 |
File Name: BrandtsCormorant_D506079-La-Jolla-Cove |
| © 2018 Jack Daynes, shadeTreeImaging.com |
Brandt's Cormorant(Urile penicillatus) |
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Description: From the lookout high above Roosevelt Beach, and within view of the Heceta Head Lighthouse, I could see a sea lion colony with mostly Steller’s Sea Lions, and a nearby cormorant colony, with mostly Brandt’s Cormorants, and a few Common Murres. |
Date Taken: 2022:04:02 15:49 |
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Location:
Roosevelt Beach |
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Camera Information: NIKON D850, 800 mm, f/8.0, 1/1250 |
File Name: BrandtsCormorant_8500222-RooseveltBeach |
| © 2022 Jack Daynes, shadeTreeImaging.com |
Brandt's Cormorant(Urile penicillatus) |
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Description: These were the first Brandt’s Cormorants I’d met away from the cliffs of La Jolla in San Diego County. This visit to San Luis Harbor was only my second since 2019-July. Again, it proved to be a worthwhile stop on my trip along California’s central coast. |
Date Taken: 2022:02:28 15:12 |
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Location:
Port San Luis |
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Camera Information: NIKON D850, 800 mm, f/8.0, 1/800 |
File Name: BrandtsCormorant_8500488-SanLuisHarbor |
| © 2022 Jack Daynes, shadeTreeImaging.com |
Brandt's Cormorant(Urile penicillatus) |
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Description: These rafting Brandt’s Cormorants were the first I’d met away from the cliffs of La Jolla in San Diego County. This visit to San Luis Harbor was only my second since 2019-July. Again, it proved to be a worthwhile stop on my trip along California’s central coast. |
Date Taken: 2022:02:28 14:18 |
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Location:
Port San Luis |
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Camera Information: NIKON D850, 800 mm, f/8.0, 1/800 |
File Name: BrandtsCormorant_8500328-SanLuisHarbor |
| © 2022 Jack Daynes, shadeTreeImaging.com |
Brandt's Cormorant(Urile penicillatus) |
|
Description: These rafting Brandt’s Cormorants were the first I’d met away from the cliffs of La Jolla in San Diego County. This visit to San Luis Harbor was only my second since 2019-July. Again, it proved to be a worthwhile stop on my trip along California’s central coast. |
Date Taken: 2022:02:28 14:16 |
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Location:
Port San Luis |
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Camera Information: NIKON D850, 800 mm, f/8.0, 1/800 |
File Name: BrandtsCormorant_8500300-SanLuisHarbor |
| © 2022 Jack Daynes, shadeTreeImaging.com |
Brandt's Cormorant(Urile penicillatus) |
|
Description: These were the first Brandt’s Cormorants I’d met away from the cliffs of La Jolla in San Diego County. This visit to San Luis Harbor was only my second since 2019-July. Again, it proved to be a worthwhile stop on my trip along California’s central coast. |
Date Taken: 2022:02:28 14:15 |
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Location:
Port San Luis |
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Camera Information: NIKON D850, 800 mm, f/8.0, 1/800 |
File Name: BrandtsCormorant_8500292-SanLuisHarbor |
| © 2022 Jack Daynes, shadeTreeImaging.com |
Brandt's Cormorant(Urile penicillatus) |
|
Description: These were the first Brandt’s Cormorants I’d met away from the cliffs of La Jolla in San Diego County. This visit to San Luis Harbor was only my second since 2019-July. Again, it proved to be a worthwhile stop on my trip along California’s central coast. |
Date Taken: 2022:02:28 14:14 |
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Location:
Port San Luis |
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Camera Information: NIKON D850, 800 mm, f/8.0, 1/800 |
File Name: BrandtsCormorant_8500274-SanLuisHarbor |
| © 2022 Jack Daynes, shadeTreeImaging.com |
Brandt's Cormorant(Urile penicillatus) |
|
Description: These were the first Brandt’s Cormorants I’d met away from the cliffs of La Jolla in San Diego County. This visit to San Luis Harbor was only my second since 2019-July. Again, it proved to be a worthwhile stop on my trip along California’s central coast. |
Date Taken: 2022:02:28 14:13 |
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Location:
Port San Luis |
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Camera Information: NIKON D850, 800 mm, f/8.0, 1/800 |
File Name: BrandtsCormorant_8500257-SanLuisHarbor |
| © 2022 Jack Daynes, shadeTreeImaging.com |
Brandt's Cormorant(Urile penicillatus) |
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Description: Along the rocky coast south of Point La Jolla. La Jolla, San Diego County, California. |
Date Taken: 2014:09:09 9:09 |
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Location:
La Jolla |
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Camera Information: NIKON D3X, 800 mm, f/8.0, 1/400 |
File Name: D3X9978-BrandtsCormorant |
| © 2014 Jack Daynes, shadeTree-Imaging.com |
Brandt's Cormorant(Urile penicillatus) |
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Description: Our first landing on our way to the Archipielago de Revillagigedo was at Isla San Rogue, a seemingly barren rock of an island near the central coast of Baja California. |
Date Taken: 2017:02:11 8:39 |
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Location:
Isla San Roque |
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Camera Information: NIKON D5, 550 mm, f/8.0, 1/6400 |
File Name: BrandtsCormorant_D5X4713 |
| © 2017 Jack Daynes, shadeTreeImaging.com |
Brandt's Cormorant(Urile penicillatus) |
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Description: On nest with two eggs near The Cove. La Jolla, California. San Diego County. |
Date Taken: 2012:05:01 7:53 |
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Location:
La Jolla |
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Camera Information: NIKON D3X, 800 mm, f/5.6, 1/160 |
File Name: D3X1823-BrandtsCormorant |
| © 2012 Jack Daynes, shadeTree-Imaging.com |
Brandt's Cormorant(Urile penicillatus) |
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Description: Near The Cove. La Jolla, California. San Diego County. |
Date Taken: 2012:04:08 11:42 |
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Location:
La Jolla |
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Camera Information: NIKON D3X, 800 mm, f/5.6, 1/640 |
File Name: D3X0078-BrandtsCormorant |
| © 2012 Jack Daynes, shadeTreeImaging.com |
Brandt's Cormorant(Urile penicillatus) |
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Description: Near The Cove. La Jolla, California. San Diego County. |
Date Taken: 2012:04:08 11:55 |
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Location:
La Jolla |
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Camera Information: NIKON D3X, 800 mm, f/5.6, 1/1000 |
File Name: D3X0114-BrandtsCormorant |
| © 2012 Jack Daynes, shadeTreeImaging.com |
Brandt's Cormorant(Urile penicillatus) |
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Description: 2018-12-17: Early signs of nesting at the Cove in La Jolla. San Diego County, California (USA) |
Date Taken: 2018:12:17 10:55 |
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Location:
La Jolla Cove |
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Camera Information: NIKON D500, 400 mm, f/8.0, 1/400 |
File Name: BrandtsCormorant_D504771-La-Jolla-Cove |
| © 2018 Jack Daynes, shadeTreeImaging.com |
Brandt's Cormorant(Urile penicillatus) |
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Description: Near The Cove. La Jolla, California. San Diego County. |
Date Taken: 2012:04:08 11:41 |
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Location:
La Jolla |
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Camera Information: NIKON D3X, 800 mm, f/5.6, 1/500 |
File Name: D3X0069-BrandtsCormorant |
| © 2012 Jack Daynes, shadeTreeImaging.com |
Brandt's Cormorant(Urile penicillatus) |
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Description: Pair bonding near The Cove. La Jolla, California. San Diego County 2012-04-08. |
Date Taken: 2012:04:08 12:04 |
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Location:
La Jolla Cove |
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Camera Information: NIKON D3X, 800 mm, f/5.6, 1/1000 |
File Name: D3X0129-BrandtsCormorant |
| © 2012 Jack Daynes, shadeTreeImaging.com |
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