If I didn't know better, I might've thought the lone
cormorant (seen in the photograph directly above) was providing some shade for a sunbathing turtle when they were both atop a large rock within
Turtle Pond, near The
Delacorte Theatre in
Central Park.
But this cormorants actions had nothing to do with giving a turtle some shade...
...rather rather he/she was drying his/her wings after taking a few dips in the pond's algae-laden waters, as evidenced in the following photos.
A number of web sources including one called
Ocean Wildlife and Other Earthly Concerns, concur, "
you’ll also see cormorants on rocks with their wings spread out drying their wet feathers."
The aforementioned page explains,
"Cormorants do not have waterproof feathers. It turns out that waterproof feathers stink for diving, so instead cormorants kept feathers that are easily waterlogged to help them sink and dive faster... This is why you’ll often see them with just their heads sticking out of the water because their feathers are waterlogged and weighing them down..."
This certainly seemed to be what was happening with the cormorant who I saw on Saturday; as evidenced in the next set of pictures.
As you may recall, dear reader, I discussed characteristics of the cormorant, in last week's segment of my
Tuesday's Truths series with a reminder that this bird type featured in volume three of my book series,
Words In Our Beak.
Another Tuesday's Truths is that I confess that when it comes to cormorants (and most wildlife) I'm a bit like the unknown author of the quote featured in this text-image.
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