365 Urban Species. #126: Double-crested Cormorant

Photos by cottonmanifesto

Urban species #126: Double-crested cormorant Phalocrocorax auritus

This large, ancient-looking bird looks pretty out-of-place the first time you see one in the city. Swimming low in the water (looking like a "miniature Loch Ness Monster" according to one friend's first report) or perched on a pier, the double-crested cormorant is actually a frequent sight in coastal cities. Feeding mostly on salt water fish, cormorants will also happily travel into rivers and fly to ponds, if the fishing is good.

Cormorants swim after fish, allowing their feathers to become saturated as they "fly" under water. Their feathers are not waterproof, like duck feathers, so they have to perch with wings outstretched to let them dry. In tropical America, a cormorant relative called the anhinga can be seen in this posture, or swimming in canals and other waterways with just its head and neck out of water--earning it the nickname "snakebird."

Cormorants are found worldwide, including a flightless form in the Galapagos. In Asia humans developed a method of fishing, using cormorants with collars that prevented them from swallowing their prey. In Britain, cormorants are known as "shags," which I assume leads to bad jokes.

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