Why Is That Bird Holding Its Wings Open? Meet the Double-crested Cormorant

A dark bird stands beside the lake with both wings held out. It is not taking off. It stays there, almost like a coat hanging on a line, while the water moves behind it.

That familiar pose belongs to a remarkably capable swimmer. A Double-crested Cormorant can spend one part of its day chasing fish underwater and another resting on a rock or branch. The wings-open pause helps connect those two worlds.

The opening image is AI-generated from my original cormorant photograph to illustrate the wings-open drying pose. My unaltered photographs below, from Trilogy Polo Club in Indio and La Quinta Civic Center, show the birds with their wings folded. The interactive illustration follows the transition from water to perch.

Why does a cormorant spread its wings?

Drying its feathers after diving is a major reason. Cornell’s Bird Academy explains that cormorant feathers wet readily, reducing trapped air that would otherwise help keep the bird buoyant. That is useful underwater, but it leaves feathers to dry when the fishing session ends. Holding the wings away from the body exposes more of their surface to the air. [1]

Think about the transition: water supports the bird while it hunts; an exposed perch gives it room to rest afterward. The rock or branch is part of its habitat just as surely as the lake.

A single photograph cannot tell us everything that happened before the shutter clicked. The open-wing posture is consistent with drying, but it does not reveal the length of the last dive or whether that dive produced a fish. Watch the sequence when you can.

Start with the bird’s shape

The Double-crested Cormorant has a long neck, a substantial dark body, a long tail and a slender bill with a hooked tip. Yellow-orange facial skin stands out beside the bill. Adults are mostly dark; younger birds can have a paler neck and chest. The small head tufts that give the species its name are seasonal and can be difficult to see. [2]

On the water, look at how much of the body sits below the surface. Cormorants ride low, with the neck and head often providing the clearest outline. A long neck alone is not enough for identification: combine the silhouette, bill and behavior. [2]

For another common source of pond-side confusion, see why those little black “ducks” are American Coots. The coot’s pale bill gives you a very different starting point.

The fishing happens below the surface

A cormorant does not simply wait for a fish to come close to shore. It dives and pursues prey, using its webbed feet for propulsion and its hooked bill to grasp the catch. Fish make up most of its diet. [3]

That makes it a useful comparison with an egret. An egret can watch and strike from the shallows; the cormorant follows its food into the water. The same pond can support more than one hunting method. Our Great Egret and Snowy Egret guide introduces two of those shoreline hunters.

What a particular cormorant eats depends on what it can catch. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service describes considerable differences in diet between places and seasons. Seeing a bird beside a stocked lake does not identify the fish in its last meal. [4]

A lake and a place to pause

My archive places these birds at two very different settings: a residential community lake at Trilogy Polo Club and the landscaped Civic Center Campus in La Quinta. Their surroundings look designed for people, yet they also offer water and resting places for birds.

California’s wildlife account describes the species using inland lakes as well as coastal, fresh and salt water. It also identifies the Salton Sea as part of the bird’s seasonal regional distribution. The wider lesson is to look for suitable water and resting space rather than assuming this is only an ocean bird. [5]

La Quinta Civic Center Campus provides a public setting for paying closer attention to pond life. Trilogy Polo Club is a private community, so its photographs are part of this story rather than an invitation to enter. For a larger birding outing, explore Lake Cahuilla and the Salton Sea bird-watching guide. A suitable setting never guarantees a particular bird on a particular visit.

Life beyond the perch

Double-crested Cormorants nest in colonies. Depending on the site, their stick nests can be in trees or on the ground. Both members of a pair contribute to nest construction. [3]

There is a difference between a bird resting beside a lake and a breeding colony. None of the portraits here establishes a nest, eggs or young at the photographed location. That distinction matters when we turn a wildlife encounter into a story: the photograph records the individual in front of the camera, while research helps explain the wider life of its species.

Watch a little longer

On your next pond-side walk, give the cormorant a few quiet minutes. Does it float low, dive, climb onto a perch, preen, or hold its wings away from its body? Those observations tell you more than a color label alone.

Keep enough distance for the bird to continue what it is doing. An open-wing resting bird does not need to be encouraged to fly for a photograph. Include the rock, branch or shoreline when it helps explain the scene.

The next time you see those outstretched wings, you have a place to begin: a bird built to work underwater, taking care of its feathers back in the air.