As the feathers of the Cormorant aren’t waterproof, after a couple of dives, they have to dry their plumage. For this, the Cormorants like to sit on poles where they spread their wings. Especially in winter the Cormorant can be seen very often in the harbour. But mostly, the rather shy bird chooses poles which are not accessible for humans and far out in the water.
For taking pictures, the Cormorants in the harbour are often just too far away. Because you can’t get so close to the birds, you then have the pole in the picture. Also, the background becomes less blurred by the distance. This has the consequence that the background distracts from the bird and the picture looks less natural. So, to take an interesting photo of the Cormorant, I had to get as close as possible to the bird. But how do you get so close to a shy bird, especially when it usually sits far out in the water on high poles?
Fortunately, the latter is not always the case. In the last few years, I noticed a pole in the local harbour, which was quite close to the shore and still was sometimes visited by Cormorants.
The problem was, however, that the Cormorants were very shy and were already changing to other poles at long distances. A hide would not have been worthwhile itself as the post was used to0 little and it was located in the middle of the sometimes pretty crowded harbour area.
So, the only thing I could do was try, try and try...