Blue, Blue, Blue
... There may have been good news for the Double Crested Cormorant , but I just read that there is a mysterious illness plaguing Brandt's Cormorants . Breeding populations -- and success rates -- are at a twenty year low on the Farallon Islands, sick birds are being picked up for treatment , and birds carcasses are turning up on local beaches . Let's hope this is a fluke, and not part of a larger negative trend for these spectacular birds. When Robb was just home from the hospital, after his accident, I saw photos of Brandt's Cormorants doing their incredible mating displays and I just about lost my mind. Partly, this was because I was in such awe of the physical appearance of these animals, and partly (I can admit now) that I never thought we would be going hiking again, or be able to go out to see exotic wildlife like these birds. Something about looking at those photos made me feel pathetically sorry for myself. But that was a long time ago, and thing are better for