Great Cormorant in snow

[Markus Jais]

Dachau, Germany
EOS 7D, 4/500L, 1.4x
ISO 400, f5.6, 1/640
Slight crop top and right.
LR2: increased clarity a bit, reduced luminance noise
PS CS4: some USM

Originally I was hoping for blue sky to shoot BIF but the weather here in Bavaria is just terrible. But when I saw the snow I thought of the Great cormorants and drove about 20km to the river "Amper" in Dachau, near Munich and hoped that at least a few Cormorants would show up.
They did and I got the image with black birds and white snow I was hoping for.

I love Cormorants and I think it is sad that so many people want to shoot them.

Markus

[arash_hazeghi]

Beautiful ambiance, appropriate perch and nice cormi details, I might crop this a bit tighter on the top to show more feather details. TFS

[Dan Wolin]

Nice Markus - I like the snow and solitary bird. I agree a little crop off the top.

[Stu Bowie]

Good detail on the blacks Markus, and its hard to believe when I see comorants here in SA, its the middle of summer, and here's one freezing in the middle of your winter. Bringing in from the RHS will work, and I like the falling snow.

[Ilija Dukovski]

Very nice capture, the snow and bird posture add a lot to a winter feel.
Interesting, I didn't know that cormorants are shot by people?
In some countries they are "domesticated" and used for fishing.

[Markus Jais]

Very nice capture, the snow and bird posture add a lot to a winter feel.
Interesting, I didn't know that cormorants are shot by people?
In some countries they are "domesticated" and used for fishing.

In Germany, they are legally killed in large numbers, sometimes even shot in the nest during the breeding season. The populations are still good and there is a lot of fighting going on currently on how to deal with the birds. Birdlife Germany, is of course against all this nonsense.

But sometimes one get's the feeling that we are heading right back into the dark ages.

Also stupid: Sometimes, the birds are apparently shot with lead ammunition. When later a scavenger like a Common Buzzard or a White-tailed Eagle eats the dead cormorant, the raptor can die too. This happens when humans stop using their brain!

Markus

[Ilija Dukovski]

Also stupid: Sometimes, the birds are apparently shot with lead ammunition. When later a scavenger like a Common Buzzard or a White-tailed Eagle eats the dead cormorant, the raptor can die too. This happens when humans stop using their brain!

That is really a problem, in Macedonia led ammo is one of the causes
for the demise of the Bearded Vulture(Lamergeier?) and Griffon Vulture.