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To the Beauty of Birds

The Great Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo), known as the Great Black Cormorant across the Northern Hemisphere, the Black Cormorant in Australia, the Large Cormorant in India and the Black Shag further south in New Zealand, is a widespread member of the cormorant family of seabirds. It breeds in much of the Old World and the Atlantic coast of North America.

The Great Cormorant is a large black bird, but there is a wide variation in size in the species wide range. It has a longish tail and yellow throat-patch. Adults have white thigh patches in the breeding season. In eastern North America, it is similarly larger and bulkier than double-crested cormorant, and the latter species has more yellow on the throat and bill. Great cormorants are mostly silent, but they make various guttural noises at their breeding colonies.

The great cormorant breeds mainly on coasts, nesting on cliffs or in trees (which are eventually killed by the droppings), but also increasingly inland.

The great cormorant can dive to considerable depths, but often feeds in shallow water. A wide variety of fish are taken.

Many fishermen see in the great cormorant a competitor for fish. Because of this it was nearly hunted to extinction in the past. Thanks to conservation efforts its numbers increased. At the moment there are about 1.2 million birds in Europe. Increasing populations have once again brought the cormorant into conflict with fisheries. For example, in Britain, where inland breeding was once uncommon, there are now increasing numbers of birds breeding inland, and many inland fish farms and fisheries now claim to be suffering high losses due to these birds. In the UK each year some licences are issued to shoot specified numbers of cormorants in order to help reduce predation, it is however still illegal to kill a bird without such a licence.

Cormorant fishing is practiced in China, Japan, and elsewhere around the globe. In it, fishermen tie a line around the throats of cormorants, tight enough to prevent swallowing, and deploy them from small boats. The cormorants catch fish without being able to fully swallow them, and the fishermen are able to retrieve the fish simply by forcing open the cormorants' mouths, apparently engaging the regurgitation reflex.

In Norway cormorant is a traditional game bird. Each year c. 10,000 cormorants are shot to be eaten. In North Norway, cormorants are traditionally seen as semi-sacred. It is regarded as good luck to have cormorants gather near your village or settlement. An old legend states that people who die far out at sea, their bodies never recovered, spend eternity on the island Utrøst – which can only occasionally be found by mortals. The inhabitants of Utrøst can only visit their homes in the shape of cormorants.

Wikipedia

Photos 2426 to 2509 were taken at the Rainbow Springs Nature Park. It was inside of a walk in aviary and was very tame often perching of the arms of staff and allowing me to get so close I had to back off to get a photo. Photo 7639 was taken at Zoolandia, New Zealand.

The 8000 and 9000 series photos and 5420 were taken at Nashiva National Park, Kenya.

Black Shag