Cormorants’ tree

In Oakland, I was used to walk along Lake Merritt for hours, watching the birds while enjoying, sometimes, fantastic sunsets. On a small island close to the shore, there was a fascinating tree covered with cormorants’ nest.

I lived in Oakland from June 2014 to July 2018, in Adam’s Point, a few minutes away from Lake Merritt.

The Northern side of the lake hosts a bird sanctuary giving refuge to many species of ducks, Canadian geese, Black-crowned Night-Herons, cormorants, pelicans, egrets, coots, and many others.

I was used to walk along the water for hours, watching the birds while enjoying, sometimes, fantastic sunsets. I also took a lot of pictures and videos. On a small island close to the shore, there was a fascinating tree covered with cormorants’ nest.

The peculiarity of those birds is that their feces are toxic and kill the trees that host them. Even if the trees don’t decide to host the cormorants, I like to think that the trees sacrifice themselves to allow the birds to reproduce.

With the many clips I took in 2015 of the tree and the birds, I made a short movie.

Initially, I was thinking of writing a score for it, but I found a piece of music by Igor Khabarov — Try — that sounded perfect to me, and I went with it.

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Originally, it has been published at https://room29.art/cormorants-tree-a-short-film/ on June 15th, 2020.