Shagging in the Rain

[NorthernFocus]

Spent a damp morning photographing shags. Or double crested cormorants as they are known here. Sorry for anyone who expected something a little more interesting

We never paid these birds any attention when I was a young man living here. Now I'm willing to brave the rain for a shot of them. Funny how priorities change with time. In fairness all these guys were hanging out in roadside ponds and I was shooting from an auto It served as both a great blind and excellent rain cover. Though when it dries out a bit I'll give them another go afoot so I can get lower shooting angles.

1) Immature double crested cormorant (as far as I can tell)



2) A mature bird.



3) Bird on a stick.



4) And it's friend.



5) And then this little guy was kind enough to land right in front of me on a cane stalk. I believe it's a ruby-crowned kinglet. It was eating aphids off the cane.

[Shadowman]

Nice series even after the disappointment.

[madcrow]

Weather might be a little disappointing but your images certainly are not. I think #3,#4 and #5 are super.

[proseak]

Nice set of pics

[John 2]

Nice set. The rain adds something. Love the last one. I very often use the car as a hide. It's surprising what birds will get used to if you wait a bit apart from which, I'm lazy.

[NorthernFocus]

Glad you guys enjoyed the post. Sorry about the title. It's interesting how different the meaning of words can be to different societies. We also have a style of dance that's called shagging. Go figure...

[Donald]

Glad you guys enjoyed the post. Sorry about the title. It's interesting how different the meaning of words can be to different societies. We also have a style of dance that's called shagging. Go figure...

Yes, I saw the title and from a UK perspective thought, 'This is one we're going to have to delete immediately. We can't have pornography on here.'

But ..... all is well. Phew!

[Geoff F]

Excellent exposure and clarity with plenty of feather detail.

[NorthernFocus]

Sorry about that, Donald. I didn't consider the moderators' potential reactions to my play on words.

And I owe everyone an apology. My moral values lead me to avoid coarse expressions. And though the term in question doesn't have a coarse connotation in the USA, I was clearly aware of how it would be interpreted by a significant portion of the CiC community. So at best I was splitting hairs. Please forgive my poor judgement.

Mods, perhaps it's best to delete the thread lest Google's search engine bring folks to CiC who enjoy a genre of photography that we don't typically share here

[Donald]

Mods, perhaps it's best to delete the thread lest Google's search engine bring folks to CiC who enjoy a genre of photography that we don't typically share here

Not at all. It'll provides them with an education.

My comments were intended to be taken humourously. I think it's great fun when we throw up these differences in what so many people think of as our common language.

[JohnRostron]

You are clearly not a fair-weather photographer, Dan. Sorry, but I thought someone had better say it.

In the UK Shags (with crests) are mainly confined to the west where they can occur in vast rafts. Our Common or Great Cormorant is more widely distributed in smaller numbers. I have even seen them occasionally flying over my house, about two miles from the Thames estuary.

John