The Double-crested Cormorant is common sight for people who take the time to walk all the way around Vancouver's Stanley Park - they roost on the cliffs just west of the Lion's Gate bridge. These birds can be found along the Pacific coast from Alaska to Baja California. The birds in this image were in the Fraser River near Ladner - a little community on the coast at the southern reach of the Greater Vancouver metropolitan area.
These birds are excellent swimmers and divers - they live on the fish they can catch - but their feathers are not protected by oils like most sea birds. You can often see them sitting with outstretched wings, drying them after having come out of the water.
