Guano Rocks Photo | TrekEarth

Photographer’s Note

The rugged coastline near Cambria hosts a variety of sea life, including varieties of sea lions and seabirds. Pictured here are white rocks covered with guano (the Peruvian word for excrement) from cormorants. Guano is known to build up on some ocean rocks and islets continuously over thousands of years.
It was once prized as a fertilizer.

Cormorants are ubiquitous around the globe and have one leg in the world of dinosaurs, having evolved very little over millions of years. Expert fishers, they nevertheless are one of the only seabirds which lack waterproof wings and must spend much of their time on rocks like these, drying their wings in the sun.

weswang, snuggleaphagus, MoosicMan, alainh, singuanti, sahmay, jjbach, Tue, papagolf21, MarekP, capthaddock, Jeppe, alvaraalto, cam, Emile, Gix, kent_s, Didi, plimrn has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

snuggleaphagus (4138) 2005-06-02 21:15

The colors are fantastic the blue and turquoise ocean to the reddish brown color of the rocks. (the greenish turquoise green is the smae color as my car)
The clouds compliment the white stuff on the rock and the seafoam. I like the composition and the litle bit of ocean beyond the rocks.

annagrace (2463) 2005-06-02 21:40

Love those black rocks, John. Too bad they are covered with poop! You've brought back a memory from the 70s - I had a box of bat guano that we used for fertilizing houseplants. It smelled horrible!

Anyhow, great colors and an interesting note.

MoosicMan (1231) 2005-06-02 22:45

Well framed, nice deep colors, an attractive shot. Good work, John.
Best regards,
Matt

CliffW (2310) 2005-06-02 22:52

Fascinating stuff John and I'm surprised that birds can be that prolific! Good cloud line and foreground with excellent handling of the white umm.. tones. Got a bit of a kick out of the title too. It kind of sounded like an opinion - one you wouldn't hear very often. :)

alainh (35349) 2005-06-02 23:39

hello John
a beautiful shot, a fresh one. colours, sharpness, composition. i like it.
regards
alain

singuanti (15240) 2005-06-03 0:01

Hi John, another most beautiful shot. If I were you I might have played around with my framing to include less sky and more rock in the immediate foreground because that's where the most interest is. But your sharpness seems to be right on again. You seem to have that one down now. But the colors, especially the water, are most pleasing. Nice job John.

gaudi-spirit (187) 2005-06-03 0:55

Wonderfull ! Nice colors and view.

Gregtom (7119) 2005-06-03 2:00

Hello, John! I especially like Your composition and color of the water. Nicely framed with the rocks at the bottom. Good job!
regards,
Grzegorz

cessy (13647) 2005-06-03 2:07

beautiful view, John
nice capture of the guano island, the waves
I like the composition

jjbach (9101) 2005-06-03 10:16

Hi John,
Wonderful wild landscape shot. Beautiful colours and fine textures. Very nice work!

Regards John

weswang (18223) 2005-06-03 10:30

Hi John, A well capture of the dynamics of the ocean. I like the combination of white wave color, green shallow water color, blue deep ocean color, and brow rock color all in one picture. The picture is well taken with clarity, sharpness and nice contrast. An excellent composition and a beautiful picture. Well done.

foxy (733) 2005-06-03 13:12

Hi,
What a shot, so real. I could almost hear the waves splashing onto the rocks. I'm hypnotize by the motions of the sea as I keep looking at it.
Hmmmm......

alexlie (5359) 2005-06-03 13:46

Hi John!
This coastline looks fascinating. Great composition, I like the rocks on the foreground. Fine colors and sharpness. Well done.
Regards.

Fis2 (45250) 2005-06-03 15:21

Hi John!
Your photo is wonderful! I like thhe colours, composition and sharpness. Very impressive picture! Good job.
Regards
Krzy¶

Tue (25608) 2005-06-03 18:59

Hi John,
Great sea landscape with these rocks and the great blue sea! I like the shapes in the shot, well done! :-D
Groetjes,
Lars

jpages (1670) 2005-06-03 19:52

Hi John,
Very good seascape composition, with the two groups of rocks, creating depth to the view. The colours are very real, with a very beautiful green, turquoise and dark blue sea water. The part taken up by the sky with low clouds is also well dimensioned. Very clear and sharpness view with a light very well captured. Well done.
Best regards.

greg64g (11193) 2005-06-04 5:01

Hello John,

I like the Seascape, this one is nice, this is very well composed, and especially like the sea and waves colors. i like it.
cheers
greg

papagolf21 (55990) 2005-06-04 5:54

Bonjour John,
Très belle prise de vue de ces îles qui semblent perdues.
Les couleurs et la netteté sont parfaites.
J'aime beaucoup la lumière dispensée qui met en valeur cette superbe composition.
Félicitations.
Très amicalement.
Philippe

Graal (57292) 2005-06-04 14:43

Hi John!
Very good shot. I like the composition, colours and sharpness. Good job.
Regards,
Aleksander

MarekP (4744) 2005-06-04 14:53

Hi John,
Nice photo. I like wide range of colours from very deep blue to white foam on tops of waves. Well done!

Thanks,
Marek

Gdouble (5245) 2005-06-05 3:16

Hi John, I like the contrast between calm sky and wild sea. Great note about cormorants.
Very nice
Guy

capthaddock (28640) 2005-06-05 12:29

Hi John - a wonderful capture of this bird colony and the angry sea, excellent shades of green and blue in the ocean, which nowadays has turned to its typical summer version of hazy gray.

sarju (5308) 2005-06-05 13:15

Hello John
thanks for the introduction about Commorants (I had no idea that they were that old) .. I must admit that my experience on TE is becoming a kind of educational .... I wish that the sky was a bit more bluish ... besides that it is a beautiful photo ... cheers ... thanks for sharing
sarju

Jeppe (18623) 2005-06-05 14:53

Oh - Diden't know there was Guano Rocks at those coast as well - I seen something like this near Chile.
Natures Irony that this island seems to be barren and sterile. But the manuring could be a great fertilizer in small doses

Thanks John for the fine view (I like the colours and sharness) - This also reminds me of a shot in my portefoil.

Mafo (1339) 2005-06-05 17:59

Nice photo John!
Beautiful colors, nice composition and sharpnes!
Reagrds

alvaraalto (5227) 2005-06-05 18:06

Hi John,
Some people will be glad and say, if they look at this beautiful picture, that human beings are not the only polluters in the world.
But I like this more than a refuse dump.
Groet Rob

toni_al (15430) 2005-06-05 18:47

Hi John
Superbe image, les couleurs et le cadrage sont superbes, c'est incroyables tous ces oiseaux...
Amitiés
Toni

cam (8880) 2005-06-05 20:27

What a sight.Quite wild and must be smelly also if you are under the wind.
Nice composition and I like the détails in the foreground.
I wonder about the sound!The sea and the birds,it must be very loud.
Charles

PJE (19357) 2005-06-05 23:09

John I love the lighting in this scene. It feels like I am right there beside the water. Must have been a real nice trip. Awesome shot John.

jp80 (8437) 2005-06-06 3:06

Hi John,
a nice composition you posted here, with very deep blue colors on the sea. I like the rock on background too. Well framed, and thank you for the interesting note.

Pascal

mumek (17464) 2005-06-06 20:48

Good evening John!
Excellent scenery with beautiful colours of the waves.Nice light in the foreground and on the guano rocks. The note as usual very informative and interesting.Thanks for posting
regards
ziggy

Emile (19807) 2005-06-06 23:00

Beautiful picture John.
Very good colors, love the contrasts between the deep blue ocean colors and the white waves.
The rocks in the foreground give an excellent touch to your photo.
Well done.

Gix (3559) 2005-06-07 3:32

Hi John,
i have Cormorans in my city too, bot surely not so nices rocks! Excellent view, i like the sea, so angry against the rocks. It's an icon of nature, pure and fresh!
ciao, Giorgio

kent_s (1911) 2005-06-07 4:54

Hi John
The sea has a wonderful spectra of blue and green colors. The white "bird toilet" gives the shot, together with the rocks in the foreground, a great depth
Well done
Hälsningar
Kent

danyy (68040) 2005-06-09 2:12

Bonjour John,
Scène agréable d'un océan aux côtes abrptes et rocailleuses. Impressionnate masse de guano qui donne un aspect vraiment particulier à ce rocher.
C'est bien vu et la note est très instructive.
Best regards.
Daniel.

Didi (35760) 2005-06-21 9:01

Bonjour John
J'apprécie beaucoup ce paysage où la nature nous dévoile ce joli panorama.
L'océan agité agrémente parfaitement cette composition.
Salutations.

Hello John
I appreciate much this landscape where nature reveals us this pretty panorama. The rough ocean decorates this composition perfectly. Greetings.

plimrn (19558) 2006-10-22 3:59

Oh wow! another treasure for the driving big Sur theme. The color and detail are stunning, the note is great. This wild green sea, the rugged rocks and the line of clouds along the horizon make the photo fit my image of Cambria perfectly.
Regards, Pat