Looks like an old homestead, right?

Look closer.

Go on…zoom in.

If we learn to focus in on things and look closer, we sometimes find the unexpected.

In this case, it’s a double-crested cormorant and great blue heron rookery. These birds look and act so differently yet they manage to get along.

This rookery is located at the Sod House Ranch at Malheur NWR. It was built by cattle-baron Peter French in the late 1800’s. The ranch was the headquarters of the French-Glenn Livestock Company that at one time covered 140,000 acres.