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I was just sitting here, watching part of The Blue Planet series- Tidal Seas/Coasts and was feeling overwhelmed by the marvelousness of the world and of some of the footage that people have captured of it. Truly remarkable how complex this world is, and how little of it I’ve explored.

I realized I can either stop now, leaving the capturing of the natural world to others, people that seem very capable of capturing the beauty and the magic that is out there, or I can let those images inspire me to greater heights, to continue to perfect my own techniques that I might bring my own visions to others. As I further my own understanding of the natural world, and here on these pages I can share my dreams with you.

Not so very long ago I was kayaking my local waterways, photographing creatures of interest whose watery paths crossed my own. A gull and a sea cucumber doing lunch (to the sea cucumbers chagrin). A family of otters herding their weir of fish along. Godwits and dowitchers probing the depths of the shore. A barn owl playing peek-a-boo (with me). And, among many others, a gift of a Pelagic Cormorant perched upon a sheer rock face, drifting between this world and one of gentle slumber, posing for my every shot.

And while the cormorant would turn to look at me from time to time, it would always return its head to a resting position

The Pelagic Cormorant is not a rare bird out here, especially as one approaches the mouth of Tomales Bay, but they are not nearly so numerous as their cousin who abounds here in such great numbers- the Double-crested Cormorant. (I hear some of the old timers around here just group the two of them together however, naming them as a single bird- a shag.)

Said resting position

This is the smallest of our local cormorants