The Double Crested Cormorant are back to the nesting tree. As of Feb 28th (the last time I checked) they have yet to reoccupy the tree they colonized last year above the playground next to the Rotary Nature Center.
You can get some close up time with the cormorants down on the channel, where they are often hunting on one tide or another.
They are wary of people and will often swim away, but sometimes if you are still enough, you’ll find them right beneath you — as in the photo below. Trailing bubbles as it searched the wall growth. It came up with a fish shortly after.
The prey was little silversides – one little school circling in the shallows, no doubt wary of the birds in the water nearby.
Community for Lake Merritt 