Cormorants hearing underwater

There’s a Cormorant at the Town Quay.

It stands and hangs its wings out to dry just under the rusty railway bridge:

Then it flies across and sits by the side of the river, next to me, and preens:

It looks like it has a feather or two missing:

Cormorants have very good hearing underwater which means their hearing out of water is thought to be rather poor. This one is attentive and still relaxed with me being here.

Relaxed enough to have a proper stretch and yawn. That’s quite some gape.