#diving bird

[tim-dennis]

Sandwich Tern touching the water

[claypigeonpottery]

gannets diving for fish

[niekstradamus]

Timelapse of a diving Cormorant illustration. I stream the progress on this bird live on Twitch!

_

Likes, reblogs and follows are appreciated. :3

[therewithacamera]

Cormorant moodboard

[johnnyslittleanimalblog]

Canada's symbol: the Loon by Spirithills Via Flickr: a symbol of the tranquility and serenity. This is a common Loon

[noir-poetography]

Collection of Cormorants 

© 2019, James Blatter  

[evolutionsvoid]

While the Cockatrice family has given up flight for a more terrestrial lifestyle, one species of this family has taken quite a different route. The Diving Cockatrice (or also known as Diver's Cockatrice) is an aquatic member of the family, spending most of its life swimming in the sea. It should be noted that Diving Cockatrices live only in saltwater, and if anyone is thinking about a freshwater dwelling variant, then they are most likely thinking of the Wading Cockatrice. These fellows are found in more colder climates, and they tend to nest on rocky shores. They are not found in tropical waters, so you won't be stumbling upon any when soaking up the sun at the beach. For other Cockatrices, they have developed adaptations to better suit a terrestrial lifestyle, like stronger hind limbs and thicker bones. For the Diving Cockatrice, their changes are a bit more extreme as regular birds are not exactly cut out for an aquatic life. Their forelimbs have turned into flipper-like appendages, while their hind limbs feature large webbed toes. Their bodies are much more streamlined, and their feathers have a waterproof coating to help protect them from the frigid waters. The fancy crests and wattles of their land brethren are now greatly reduced, as they would only slow them down. Even their crop is smaller than the other cockatrices, as a large, bulging one would only create drag. With all this combined, they are incredible swimmers and are much like birds in flight when they are in the water. Their speed is impressive, and their maneuverability is just as amazing, as they zip around to catch prey. Though they spend most of their life in the ocean, their dives down below often only last between five and ten minutes. They do not have crazy huge lungs to let them stay below for hours at a time, but with their speed and agility, they hardly need to. While they have the grace of dancers when they are in the water, this does not carry over too well on land. With their hind legs positioned on the side of their bodies rather than under, walking isn't exactly easy. It doesn't help that they have elongated webbed feet that point back for swimming. When they do come to land for nesting and resting, they can only crawl on their bellies. They use the claw on their flipper to help gain traction on slippery rocks, and they essentially push/pull themselves along. Due to this limited mobility on land, Diving Cockatrices rarely nest far from the shores, as any considerable distance would take them way too long to traverse. When it comes to hunting, Diving Cockatrices use their incredible swimming prowess to chase down their food. What they will do is swim along the surface and poke their head down to look for prey. When a suitable fish is spotted, they shall dive down and use their limbs to propel themselves at great speeds. Their long sharp beaks have tooth-like barbs on the inside, as well as on their tongue, which they use to hold onto slippery fish. As you could probably guess, Diving Cockatrices prey on fish, but they also eat a large amount of jellyfish. They will nab the occasional squid or floating crustacean, but fish and jellyfish are their favorites. What they truly want are species that are poisonous or possess venom of some kind, which they use to fuel their deadly spit. Just like any other cockatrice, they store these nasty ingredients in their crop to help create a toxic soup that they spew at attackers. Poison glands and jellyfish stingers make up a large portion of this soup, but there is an extra ingredient that their brethren do not possess. Since they spend so much time underwater, you can imagine spitting is not an effective weapon down there. To make up for this, their crop produces an oily, slimy substance that mixes in with the poison and toxin. This makes their barf thicker and stickier, allowing it to survive underwater. When they barf at attackers down below, this mixture will come out as a tangled, oily web, which will cling to a predator's face. There the nasty concoction will leech into their eyes, nose and mouth, causing all sorts of horrible infections. When spitting on land, their vomit comes out as a globby mass, sticking to attackers like the world's deadliest booger. Something to note about their spit weapon is that they use it as a last resort when they are in the water. When predators attack down below, they prefer to swim away as fast as possible. If land is close, they shall retreat there, but in some cases, they shall dive into swarms of jellyfish to escape predators. These little guys are immune to the stingers and venom of jellyfish, but many foes are not. It is only when they realize they can't outrun the attacker when they shall spin around and spew out their toxic cloud. On land, though, they are quick to barf at foes, as they are much more vulnerable in this state. If you wish to observe these nesting colonies, it is best that you do so from far away. Or at least get a really good mask and set of goggles.  

For breeding, Diving Cockatrices use the land for this function. They shall build crude nests from rock and lay their eggs within. Mated pairs stick together until their chicks become full grown, as it takes two parents to help provide enough food and protection. Even at a young age, these chicks are capable of vomiting at foes, but this puke consists mainly of the oily goo. Though it lacks the poisons and toxins, it is still a sticky mess that you really don't want in your eyes. While many places have found other Cockatrice species to be good for hunting or farming, Diving Cockatrices are often left alone. Due to their smaller size, they do not give a good amount of meat, and their lifestyle makes them impossible to raise like livestock. Their feathery hides do make for good gloves and boots, but catching them intentionally can be difficult. In the sea, you will never snare them with net or pole, and on land they find safety in numbers. Your best chance of snaring one is when you cast your net to catch a school of fish, and you accidentally nab one of these birds on accident. Even in this case, you better watch yourself when you pull this haul back up, as the bird will be squawking, pecking and puking. While many coastal towns may admire their aquatic grace, a lot of fishermen will have a different mood when they are at sea. To these folk, Diving Cockatrices are pests that will nab fish from hooks and swipe goods from nets. Their zipping and zooming way of hunt also tends to make fish schools erratic and unpredictable. Many a fisherman has cursed these birds after they ready their nets for an approaching school to only have their haul change direction when these little guys come barreling in. I am sure a lot of them would love to twist their scrawny little necks, but that is a fantasy best left in dream. If you aren't sure why, look for the person at the tavern who looks like half their face is rotting off. They can tell you how not worth it was to commit such an act.         Chlora Myron Dryad Natural Historian ------------------------------------------------------------------ And since we got a more coastal Slime, why not a more coastal Cockatrice?

[claypigeonpottery]

sold

an older piece, from 2022

I don’t think I ever actually posted a picture of the gannet in the middle so here it is