Great Cormorant - description, habitat, interesting facts

The pelican-like order consists of many species that differ significantly from each other. One of the most popular was the Great Cormorant. A fairly large bird in size and body lines resembles a duck. She is considered a professional fisherman among waterfowl. It cannot be otherwise, because the bird has a good appetite and eats about 500 grams per day. fishes. It is interesting to observe the process of fishing and nesting cormorant.

Appearance and habits

Each creation of nature is perfectly and maximally adapted to its environment. The appearance of the cormorant fully confirms this idea.

The main diet of the bird consists of fish. Fishing requires a great reaction, patience and endurance. The size of birds ranges from 50 to 100 cm, females are slightly smaller than males. The coloring of adults is dominated by a dark, almost black color with a greenish or purple sheen. The head is decorated with a short black crest. During courtship, males appear white thin feathers on the sides of the head, more like weightless hairs. Such a noble gray hair gives the bird a surprisingly respectable appearance. Young people first wear a brown outfit with bright spots on their stomach and neck, gaining adult color only by the age of 4.

The grayish beak is arranged like a fishing hook, only the grooves are inside, on the surface of the palate and prevent the fish from slipping out.

Strong paws with membranes are perfectly adapted for fast swimming and maneuverable movement under water, but on land they fail the owner, provoking an unstable position and a funny swinging gait.

The structure of the beak holds a special secret. Due to the great mobility of the ligaments, it opens very widely, and the cormorant easily swallows even large fish. The throat sac is small and does not play a special role in the process of feeding an adult bird.

The cormorant spends most of the time in water, only the head and a thin strip of the back are visible on the surface. It sinks into the depths like a submarine, quietly, smoothly and without a splash. Usually it takes 1 - 2 minutes to catch a tasty fish at a depth of 3 - 4 meters. Sometimes hunting excitement leads them to 8 - 10 meters.

The menu is quite diverse:

• sardine;
• anchovy;
• capelin;
• herring;
• mollusks;
• crayfish
• frogs
• turtles;
• snakes.

Good appetite does not allow picking and long sorting out options. The Great Cormorant eats everything that it catches, and in the art of fishing it has practically no equal. Cormorants fly reluctantly, they need a run to climb.

For nesting couples choose any body of water, they can build a nest on the rocks off the coast of the sea. They are not confused by the presence of other species of birds; colonies are often found where cormorants, herons, gulls, and terns coexist peacefully.

Parents have many concerns. First, they build a nest of twigs, leaves, algae, held together by droppings, on the tops of trees or rocky cornices. Then lay eggs with an interval of several days, their number is 5 - 6 pieces. Chicks require vigilant care, being born naked and blind. They need to be warmed, fed, protected from lovers to feast on someone else's nest. Only after 2 weeks will the chicks get thick warm fluff. Feeding the chicks is the concern of both parents. The basis of nutrition in the first month and a half is semi-digested fish. Later, older children will be able to swallow it whole. At this time, they are awakened by a craving for adventure. They often leave the nest and roam the earth, moving along the branches of their own tree. The greatest threat to them at this time is gray crows and large gulls.

Features of the life of great cormorants

There was a stereotype that waterfowl do not get wet. Cormorants do not know about this and are forced to spend a significant part of the time drying their plumage after each fishing. Often there are dead birds sitting on the coast, substituting wings and tail for the sun and the wind.

Among individuals, birds with white plumage are sometimes born. This miracle of nature is even less common than the crow.

Cormorants and pelicans often organize joint fishing. Pelicans scare the fish with a loud flapping of their wings and drive the school in the shallow water, and the cormorants do not let it go back until all the participants in the hunt have lunch.

In ancient times, birds were tamed and used for fishing. The equipment included a ring and a long rope. The ring was worn around the neck and the cormorant could not swallow the prey, and with the help of a rope it was returned back. Now a similar method of fishing is shown only to tourists.

In nature, there are 6 species of cormorants living in freshwater bodies of water and on the sea coast. Among them, two species are listed in the Red Book.

Video: Great Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo)