24th April 2021 - Cormorant

Today I repeat yesterday’s swim: finish zoom, cycle to the pond, 20 minute unwind in the water. The weather is identical, and so is the atmosphere in the meadow. The only difference is the cormorant.

The cormorant lands on one of the life rings during my first lap. It usually prefers the life rings in the roped off, further reaches of the pond, but today it is in amongst the swimmers. I get closer to it than I ever have before.

The feathers on its head and neck are fluffy brown, the rest scaly and blue-black. It has a red patch beneath its eye. Its tail is fan-like.

The cormorant waggles its tail from side to side and spreads its wings to dry. The wind catches them and cormorant and life ring rotate together. The wings are such an effective sail that the cormorant is almost blown off its perch. It shuffles its feet to steady itself.

Each time I pass the cormorant I notice more details. The fish like eye, the pale grey webbing of its feet, the white skin beneath its neck feathers.

It is both comical and impressive. I wonder whether drying its wings like that is instinctive or learned.