Urile Penicillatus
Urile penicillatus is the scientific name given to the Brandt's cormorant.
Penicillatus is Latin for a painter's brush (pencil of hairs), in reference to white plumes on its neck and back during the early breeding season. The common name honors the German naturalist Johann Friedrich von Brandt of the Academy of Sciences at St. Petersburg, who described the species from specimens collected on expeditions to the Pacific during the early 19th century.
During the breeding season, adults have a blue throat patch. These birds have a large breading colony in La Jolla making it ideal to photograph them as them come flying in from the ocean and get ready to land at their nest site.
