Cormorants have always intrigued me since I first came face to face with one when I was duckdiving under a wave in Mexico. I always keep my eyes open underwater (yes, even in salt water) to see when it is safe to head for the surface. As I dove under a wave I saw a flash of a long slender black creature right in front of me. My immediate thought was a sea snake but then saw the beak and realized it was a bird. In the western part of Washington the most common cormorant is the Pelagic Cormorant. They are one of the smaller species of the Pacific cormorants and can be found then entire length of the west coast of North America. I have always enjoyed watching them fish when I kayak but they are not the easiest birds to take pictures of. They are so dark it is very hard to meter correctly for them and they usually hang out in high locations above the water. They also fly up to 35 MPH with their very short wings so are not the most graceful in the air. Yesterday was a good day for shooting cormorants as they were nesting all around the ferry dock where I was catching a ferry.
Some fun facts about cormorants, they live up to 25 years in the wild, many ancient cultures used them for fishing by tying a loop around the bird’s throat that allowed them to only swallow smaller fish, while leaving bigger fish trapped in their bills. Cormorants are pellet-makers, creating pellets out of the bones and scales of the fish they eat, then spitting them out, just like some owls. They can dive up to 150 feet below the surface and swim incredibly fast.
Eastern Washington has a larger cormorant population that has been much maligned over the years. I may try to cover these cormorants in a later post as I haven’t been able to get too many good pictures of them yet but have several trips planned near the end of summer. This is a fun short read about that interesting population (the link below may not work if you are using a private browser).
https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2007/nov/10/criticized-cormorant/
Have a great Sunday & hope to hear some bird tales from your neck of the woods.
A guy I worked with was quite a sportsman and he stocked the pond behind our office building, for fishing? I’m not quite sure. He was so mad when cormorants moved in and ate all the fish. We did get to see kingfishers and osprey, so it wasn’t all bad.
They are amazingly efficient at fishing. I have yet to get any worthwhile shots of kingfishers but they are on my to do list. They are way more shy than osprey or cormorants so very hard to get close to. Most times by the time I identify them they are moving on.
Cool pictures! I love waterfowl, probably because I so rarely see them being in the Midwest.
I saw a song sparrow in the backyard this morning. I know they’re super common birds, but I very rarely see them in the yard. Typically I see Eurasian tree sparrows, American tree sparrows, and white-throated sparrows instead.
We get song sparrows below our bird feeder sometimes but I don’t notice as many of them as the other small birds. I don’t tend to notice sparrows too often but I guess our area has 4 types of fox sparrows which is rare…
https://ebird.org/pnw/news/fox-sparrows-one-of-the-northwests-more-confusing-species/
Also my living room entertainment has improved now that at least 2 lil hummers are both trying to snack at the feeder.
The hummingbirds in my backyard are really starting to hit the feeders. I’m glad they seem to be showing an interest in our honeysuckle too, which prompted me to cull back and tie up the morning glories to keep them from taking over.
My wife planted so many flowers that the hummers love that our feeder action has slowed down. I was just in the front yard and saw them all over the honeysuckle as well as several other flowers I can never remember the name of.
I read the book The Cormorant by Stephen Gregory. It’s a psychological thriller that was later made into a movie starring a young Ralph Fiennes. Both are very unsettling. I like your cormorants better.
Why was it called The Cormorant? A gentleman on the ferry saw me shooting these pics and asked me what kind of bird that was. Once I told him he went on telling all the other passengers all about the cormorants. Was pretty funny, I think he just liked saying the word.
@Loveshaq A young man inherits a house in Wales from his uncle. But he has to also assume the care of the uncle’s pet cormorant who’s at best a horrible, possessive creature, at worst, evil and possibly possessed.
“Bird droppings” is right in this case. Cormorants are one of those birds like vultures, pigeons and gulls that really foul up where they congregate.
Yes, they are prolific poopers! I heard all these kids on the ferry yelling, “daddy, that bird just pooped!”
And geese.
Yeah, those damn Canadians are the worst!!!
I left out a couple of other cool things about these birds, their Latin name translates to sea ravens. Also, they actually will hunt together underwater and chase fish into each other. This video seems kind of cruel to me but shows how the Chinese use them as living fish hooks…
Whoops, only meant to post the second one
“Now in their 70s and 80s…” Have they found the fountain of youth?
Not to be racists but Asians tend to age better than white folks, especially American white folk. Maybe it has something to do with actually moving around and not sitting on a couch eating fast food?
Would these birds fly inland and hang out at a residential or neighborhood pond?? A few years ago my coworker and I spotted an all black bird in the pond in front of our office. Not a duck. Not a loon. It never had a mate or babies and it only came for one summer. I was never able to figure out what it was bc it would swim to the other side of the pond if we got near. We just called it the Pond Chicken and I have a few Loch Ness monster-esque photos of it on my work comp.
It’s possible though they usually are not solitary birds. If the pond had enough fish to keep it happy for awhile and it was not of breeding age it’s possible depending on where you live. Lots of different types of cormorants and similar species. I like “Pond Chicken” though!
Illinois, about 45 min (in a car, probably easier flying) from Lake Michigan. We get egrets in the pond and obviously ducks and Canada geese. But I’ve never seen the Pond Chicken before.
any chance it was a coot? They’ve sometimes struck me as vaguely chicken-like.
It had *no* distinguishing marks, which is why I couldn’t Google the damn thing!