‘Communal feeding’

..
.
Great cormorants are enviably good at fishing. As you can see in this painting, the air escapes from under their feathers when they dive under. Because of their non-greased, and therefore not watertight plumage, they are able to stay underwater much easier than other fish-eating birds. But hunting big schools of fish in open water still remains difficult. It’s a lot easier if all work together to inclose prey. And this technique works very well indeed. Sometimes large groups of grey herons and great white egrets are waiting along the shore where the schools of fish will be crammed. I often wondered what this would look like under water..
.
This painting was on display in ‘Birds In Art 2000’, a very prestigious ‘wildlife art show’ at the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum in Wausau, Wisconsin, U.S.A.
.
‘Communal feeding‘
.
Great cormorants (phalacrocorax carbo)
.
90 x 60,5 cm – acrylic painting on panel – sold
.
. Next >

Jeroen Verhoeff, Wildlife Artist