Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Double-crested Cormorant

 Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus)

Double-crested cormorants are making a comeback on Lake Ontario. Now that the lake has been cleaned up of many toxic contaminants and certain pesticides such as DDT are no longer legal, cormorants have returned in LARGE numbers every year to spend approximately six months on the Great Lakes. This makes many fishers unhappy as they blame cormorants for the decline of certain fish, especially small-mouth bass.

 Balancing and drying its wings

Strange but true, even though cormorants are excellent divers, their wings are not waterproof. This means they must spread their wings out to let them dry after swimming and fishing.

Another view

I am connecting to Stewart M's Wild Bird Wednesday HERE

35 comments:

Darla said...

I'm trying to figure out why the bird is called "double crested". Interesting that they must dry their wings.

Darla

Darla said...

I'm trying to figure out why the bird is called "double crested". Interesting that they must dry their wings.

Darla

PerthDailyPhoto said...

A fact I found out when I started taking shots of our cormorants here EG. At first I thought they were just posing for me :) before I realized they do it all the time..devilishly good fishers.

Randy said...

Looks very proud.

TexWisGirl said...

i think they are very handsome. we occasionally get one on our pond here in texas. :)

Karen said...

I too think they are handsome. Ww saw a few up on Georgian Bay.

Lowell said...

As I understand things, we have mostly anhingas down here, but I'm not sure I could tell the difference. Cormorants do spread their wings to dry, but anhingas spread for body heat regulation, etc., as well. They are so much fun to watch!

MadSnapper said...

excellent close up of these amazing birds. i love to see them with wings spread. we have a lot of these here in our preserves

DeniseinVA said...

Great job on the photos and I particularly loved the second one.

Gail Dixon said...

I often see them with their wings spread. It makes for a pretty picture. I did not realize the wings weren't waterproof.

Ruth Hiebert said...

Amazing pictures. This is another one of those birds that has evaded me as far as good pictures are concerned.

Giga said...

Wiem , że rybacy nie lubią kormoranów, ale trudno muszą sie z nimi podzielić rybami. Zdjecia śliczne. Pozdrawiam.
I know you do not like the cormorant fishermen, but it is difficult to have to share with them the fish. Photos beautiful. Yours.

theconstantwalker said...

Wonderful images of a beautiful bird species..

Andy said...

I've seen large flocks of a few hundred cormorants flying over Lake Ontario. They usually fly low below the horizon and can be hard to see.

RedPat said...

There certainly are a lot of them down by Burlington and Hamilton!

Anonymous said...

So nice they're experiencing a comeback!

Crafty Green Poet said...

I always like watching the cormorants drying out their wings.

mick said...

Great photos. I especially like the lighting in the first one.

Unknown said...

They're beautiful birds.

Judy said...

I like these guys. Fun to watch them fishing and then drying off. Great shots of them!

eileeninmd said...

I always enjoy seeing them airing out their wings. Great captures of the Cormorants!

Jenn Jilks said...

They are large birds. I like to watch them. Since I don't fish, I'm OK with them!!!!

Coloring Outside the Lines said...

Well, I did not know that...how strange!

Pamela Gordon said...

Beautiful shots and interesting facts on cormorants.

Pamela Gordon said...

Beautiful shots and interesting facts on cormorants.

LONDONLULU said...

I had no idea about their wings! I'll be watching the next batch of them with new eyes:)

Grandma Barb's This and That said...

Love the photo where he is standing on the post drying his wings. I had no idea they needed to do that.

~Lavender Dreamer~ said...

What wonderful photos! We have a lot of those birds here in Florida...they are so big and majestic! Hugs!

Indrani said...

Great captures! Amazing wing span!

Stephanie said...

Beautiful wing span and great looking birds.

George said...

While your first photo is a great portrait of the cormorant, I really like the pictures of the birds drying their wings.

Lorna said...

I can't imagine how you can get such perfection every time you point your lens at something. It must be very satisfying. I admire cormorants just because they have such an officious name---you can't imagine being sassy to a cormorant.

Adam Jones said...

Lovely shots. Not a bird I've seen before.

Anonymous said...

Great captures of these beautiful birds.

Rose said...

I don't know why, but these birds fascinate me.

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East Gwillimbury is a rural town less than an hour north of Toronto, Canada's largest city. My family calls me CameraGirl because I take my camera with me wherever I go.