northeast-flora-and-fauna

Last spring I encountered what seemed to be a loud argument between a couple Double-crested Cormorants . As best I can determine, there seemed to be a dispute over the ownership of a log protruding out of the Raritan River. Or perhaps 1 cormorant was chatting up the other cormorant's girlfriend? Although I don't believe there was any physical contact, 1 of the cormorants sure seemed angry. Here's my recollection of the dispute. Originally these 2 cormorants were sharing a log. Cormorant #1 was on a submerged part of the log, Cormorant #2 was on the protruding part of the log, and AFAIK neither was particularly friendly or hostile towards the other. May 5, 2023 at Duke Island Park Photo 282299316, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) Then Cormorant #3 swam around the log and approached Cormorant #2. Things still seemed calm and routine at this point. May 5, 2023 at Duke Island Park Photo 282300145, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) But the Cormorant ...

As birds that like to fish, it's easy to imagine that this Double-crested Cormorant is demonstrating the size of "the fish that got away". (Fishermen are known for their exaggerations , after all.) In actuality, the cormorant was almost certainly just drying its wings off after a dip in the water. Their feathers are less oily than most waterfowl, so they get wetter and need to dry off more than ducks/geese do. May 1, 2023 at Washington Valley Park Photo 278270674, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

This spring I met a gulp [1] of Double-crested Cormorants , presumably stopping at the Raritan River for a little rest and food [2]. (I mostly see them during migration season .) Of the fish-eating birds I see the most, cormorants may be the most social. Other than parent/offspring groups, I rarely see herons, eagles, ospreys, or kingfishers hanging out together, but cormorants seem to enjoy each other's company. One thing that stands out in my picture is that 1 of the cormorants is quite a bit paler than the others. I suspect that individual is a 1 or 2-year-old bird that hasn't gotten its breeding plumage yet; it apparently takes a variable amount of time to acquire true adult plumage. April 20, 2023 at the Plainsboro Preserve Photo 272672670, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) [1] Wikipedia also suggests a "flight of cormorants" as a collective name for these birds, though I suspect that collective name is shared with other flying animals. [2] They a...

Looking back at some iNaturalist postings from last spring, I was a little surprised to see the Double-crested Cormorant listed as " critically imperiled " in New Jersey despite it being a bird I see semi-regularly. On the Raritan River at Duke Island Park, I saw at least 10 of them preening, fishing, and sunning themselves just in 1 day. Is it likely that I'm just much better at spotting cormorants than most people? That seems highly unlikely; these guys were admittedly closer to the opposite shore than the park shore, but they were right out in the open, and other people besides me were watching them for a while. What I think is going on is: I frequently see these birds in the spring and fall while they're migrating I suspect that "critically imperiled" means that most of them don't spend the winter or summer in NJ, but mostly just pass through it during migration. March 26, 2023 at Duke Island Park Photo 269674341, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserve...

Late last summer this seemed to be a favorite perching spot for this Double-crested Cormorant ; I'm pretty sure I saw it there on a few different days at Duke Farms' Vista Lake. A lot of times you'll see them on perches like this with their wings held open. This is because their feathers aren't all that waterproof - they don't produce waterproofing oils like ducks/geese - they need to dry their wings off after a good swim. And they are skilled swimmers, probably being the deepest diving birds in my area. This is aided by their large webbed feet that you can see in the picture. It sounds like Double-crested Cormorants are one species seeing a population upswing, though this is partly because of something we've stopped using. It's believed that these birds were some of the ones being hurt by our use of DDT . (I know Bald Eagles and Peregrine Falcons were similarly affected.) August 31, 2022 at Duke Farms Photo 229849056, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (C...

Despite a fishing ban at Duke Farms, I encountered these 2 fishermen out at Heron Lake this past July. I can only assume that this Double-crested Cormorant and Green Heron were attempting to exchange fishing tips, but given their different styles of fishing each probably thought the other was crazy: Green Heron: "Are you nuts? You don't want to go thrashing around in the water! You'll scare all the fish away doing that. Just find some shallow water, slowly and carefully walk along the shore, and when you spot a fish, just grab it." Double-crested Cormorant: "No, no, no - that's not the way to fish. Sure you might get lucky and bump into a particularly stupid fish, but you want to be out there in the middle of the lake. Then when you notice a fish, dive after it. Go as deep as you need to when pursuing it, then grab it in your beak. That's the way to fish." And don't even try and talk to them about fishing poles. 😀 I'd imagine they'll ...

Late last summer at the Washington Valley Reservoir I encountered 2 fishermen using very different fishing tactics.  The first guy was walking along, slowly and quietly in shallow water. His tactic was to see/hear a fish get close to him, at which point he'd try and grab it out of the water. Great Blue Heron September 7, 2021 at the Washington Valley Reservoir Photo 167829616, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) The  second guy  was out in the deeper part of the reservoir, and his tactic is to swim under the water after a fish.  Double-crested Cormorant September 7, 2021 at the Washington Valley Reservoir These 2 fishermen are both skilled enough to live off the fish they catch, but their tactics are very different.

Here's a Double-crested Cormorant I saw back in June. Some of my sources (field guides and online) suggest that these guys are only here during migration while others say they can be here all year. I'm not sure if this fella was just a late migrator or if this is where he's spending the summer. I suspect a few stay in New Jersey for the summer even though most of them are up north. As always, you can see the cormorant swims much lower in the water compared to the duck/goose community. You can see the back is just barely above water. It's easy to think that by being less buoyant than ducks helps cormorants in their specialty: deep diving in water in search of food. (There are ducks that will submerge completely, though I'll bet they can't keep up with their cormorant neighbors when it comes to depth.) June 17, 2021 at the Plainsboro Preserve Photo 141959702, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

Besides the ones swimming around in yesterday's post , there were also a bunch of Double-crested Cormorants drying off and socializing at the lake at the Plainsboro Preserve. There were at least 7 of these guys out there, and they may all be migrating together north of here. For them, our ponds and lakes are like diners where they can catch a meal and rest up a bit. They may not live here, but having places like this are vital to surviving a long migration. They're sharing a log with a turtle; larger turtles know they're too big for cormorants or herons to eat, and can sometimes be seen with birds that would no doubt eat baby turtles. The closest relative to these guys that can be found in New Jersey is the Great Cormorant , a somewhat longer bird with substantially longer wings. The Great Cormorant generally likes the ocean though, and is unlikely to be found this far inland. Though other cormorants are found on other parts of the continent, the next closest relative are ...

Here are a couple Double-crested Cormorants out for a swim. This is a bird I frequently see in the spring (Apr-May) and fall (Sept-Nov), and not the rest of the year; it looks like they mostly use my area as a resting spot during migration. Though these cormorants are swimming on the surface, cormorants are known for diving beneath the water, usually in search of small fish. They lack the oily feathers of ducks, which may make them heavier and thus a little better at diving than ducks. On the down side, they do need to get out of the water to dry off periodically. It's not uncommon to see them standing out of the water with their wings spread out, trying to dry off faster. April 28, 2021 at the Plainsboro Preserve Photo 128319260, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)