Keeping an eye on the 'sea crows'

 I watched three cormorants, one after another, flying down the creek toward the lake. One was flying as cormorants often do, inches above the water, which was still and clear. Poetically minded naturalists say their wings brush the water, a slight exaggeration. The second cormorant, flying at 20 feet, was visible through the trees, and the last was flying above the trees. But all were following the creek, making a 90-degree bend to the lake. The bird flying above the tree line could see the shorter route was a B-line, but he didn’t take it.

Later, I watched a cormorant diving. The pattern: he would be down for about 30 seconds, then would emerge about 100 feet down the lake. He’d pop up amid dabblers, who were unperturbed, and then he’d dive again. He was fishing the north bank of the Island.

Phalacrocoracidae means bald raven, the raven without its crest or cap. We have two: the Double-crested and the Neotropical.

The Neotropical is smaller and has an olive tint. It was known as P. olivaceous for a while. It breeds on the Texas Coast, south to Brazil. It’s now P. brasilianus.

The Double-crested winters in Texas but breeds from Alaska to Newfoundland.

Cormorants — the common name means “sea crows” — breed in big colonies. Guano is fertilizer in Chile. 

After a swim, they dry their wings. They stretch like yoga masters.

Some people think of them as quiet birds, but not at evening, when they’re roosting. They sound like the mountain orcs of Tolkein.