Today’s photo has been three years in the making. It’s a picture of a double-crested cormorant.

Now, cormorants are pretty common around here, so you might wonder just what took so long. The story is simple: I took a nice picture of one of our local cormorants about three years ago. But I never got around to using it, and then I bought a new camera. The new camera was so much sharper than the old one that I no longer wanted to use the old picture. I wanted a new picture that would be sharper. But over time, my efforts became a sort of running gag. Every time I took my camera along on a walk, there were no cormorants. Every time there were cormorants, I didn’t have my camera.

But last week my patience finally paid off. I took my camera along on a walk and our little flock of cormorants was out! I took a quick picture. Then I got closer and a couple of them flew away. I took more pictures. Then I got closer still and a couple more flew off. Finally I got even closer and snapped some pictures just as one got spooked and the other was still posing. A few seconds later it took off too.

But I got a nice picture! Finally. After three years I can now go back to not caring about cormorants.

February 5, 2020 — Irvine, California

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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