Great Cormorant Flying Over Kin Town, Okinawa

 Photographed Today with Pentax 560 MM Lens

There won't be a review of this new lens until it's been fully evaluated.

Lately, I've been backpacking the monster each morning, as I do my 10,000 daily steps.

Plenty of ducks migrate to Okinawa for winter. They were sort of avoiding me today.

All of a sudden, two strange-looking birds flew overhead and I wasn't sure what they were.

Here's a favorite image of one I used to get an identification. I'm not exactly a bird expert.

So, I wind up jumping through all sorts of Internet hoops, to get you this information.

English Name: Great Cormorant

Scientific Name: Phalacrocorax carbo

Japanese Name: Kawa-u (カワウ)

More of these birds may be seen in this 2012 post from the other side of this island. 

Bird Photo: The Great Cormorant in Flight

These are some fast moving birds, when they fly.

But, they are sort of hilarious to watch, taking off from the water.

It seems, they dive, looking for something to eat and have a hard time flying with wet wings.

So, using their webbed feet, they run in the water to get enough speed to start flying.

The scientific name: Phalacrocorax carbo

Learn more about Cormorants at ARKive 

Wildlife GIF: Cormorants in Flight

A series of 8 images were used in making this motion GIF.

Location: Kin Dam, Okinawa, Japan

Date and Time: November 4, 2014 at 12:02PM

Camera: Pentax K3

Lens: Sigma 50-500 at a focal length of 73mm

Exposure: f/11   1/500   ISO 100

Learn more about these birds, also known as Phalacrocorax carbo at ARKive