DOUBLE CRESTED CORMORANT
WR

The double crested cormorant is a rather unusual bird. It seems to be a water bird that is an excellent swimmer and diver but has feathers that are not waterproof and wings that are nearly always spread-eagled to dry quickly. In fact, as the visitor rides along the causeway leading to Jamestown Island, the large black bird that he sees on the poles or pilings with outstretched wings will surely be a cormorant.

It is a good fisherman and can stay submerged for up to a minute. After catching a fish, the thirty-six inch bird swims to the surface, flips the fish into the air, catches it usually in a head-first position and gulps it down. In the Far East, the bird is captured, a ring placed around its neck, a string on a leg, and it is used to catch fish for human consumption. At the end of the day, the ring is removed and the cormorant is rewarded with a couple of the fish for its efforts. Although no one knows for sure how deep the bird can dive, there is a record of one caught in a crabpot that was 120 feet under the surface of the water.

The large avian fisherman builds a rough nest of sea-grass or weeds and in it lays three to five greenish eggs. When the young hatch, they are fed partially digested fish by regurgitation.

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