Cormorant - bird-ichthyophagous

Cormorant is a bird of the family, consisting of thirty species. But they all have the look of professional anglers: a long thin beak with a hook-like end that the bird can use as a harpoon, as well as webbed, like all waterfowl, far-away paws. This allows you to swim quickly and maneuver both on water and under water.

Habitat

Cormorant is a bird that settles mainly near the seas. Only a few of them are residents of the freshwater zone, usually lakes. For this bird it is important that in the water bodies that it has chosen as habitats, there are enough fish, but otherwise the cormorant is quite unpretentious.

For greater safety, birds settle in large colonies. They bring out the nestlings, arranging nests on the eaves of rocks and cliffs, where as noisy neighbors they have gulls and chistiki. Only on the shores of freshwater reservoirs cormorants adapted to place nests in trees and even directly on the beaches of small lake islets.

How Cormorants Hunt

The main object of hunting cormorants is a small (weed) fish, and for freshwater specimens there are also crayfish and frogs.

Diving, this fisherman not only paddles, but also helps himself half-opened wings and a hard tail. By the way, under the water the bird can be about two minutes and fall to a depth of up to twenty-five meters.

As a companion creature, a cormorant bird, whose photo can be seen in the article, and prefers collectively hunting. And, notice, not only with representatives of its kind, but even with pelicans.

The principle of such a hunt is that the birds, surrounding the fish jamb, narrow the flank reach and drive it to the shore. Fish they grab one by one, with the sharp end of the beak, and, emerging from the water, deftly toss it to swallow.

Cormorant - a bird that gets wet especially

True, often these fishermen are so carried away that they get wet until the last feather and then dry on the shore, opening their wings, substituting themselves for the sun and decorating themselves with supports for nets, large stones, and sometimes climbing even to the dismally standing peaceful pelicans.

It would seem that this is a mistake of nature - a cormorant, a bird that dives a lot, swims and so easily gets wet? It turns out that this has its own meaning. The wet plumage tightly surrounds the body and displaces the air, which makes it heavier, and therefore more manoeuvrable in the water. Experts argue that some cormorants before hunting for this purpose even swallow stones.

Features of the Great Cormorant

The Great Cormorant is named so because it is indeed a large bird. This is the most common species on the territory of Russia, where it arrives in the spring, with the first warming (although, in case of cooling, it can also go back).

Unlike their relatives, the big cormorant is monogamous. He creates a couple for life. And the place of nesting is always flown by the family.

And in everyday life the big cormorant is rather conservative. So, for example, he can remain faithful to his favorite branch on the site of the winter hut for life. Every bird is vigilantly guarding its roost from the neighbors' encroachments. And after a year's return, all cormorants spend the night in strict accordance with the established order.