Cormorant is a bird in a family of thirty species. But they all have the appearance of professional anglers: a long thin beak with a hook-shaped end, which the bird can use as a harpoon, as well as webbed, like all waterfowl, far set legs. This allows you to swim quickly and maneuver both on the 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 there are enough fish in the reservoirs that it has chosen as its habitat, and the rest of the cormorant is quite unpretentious.
For greater safety, birds settle in large colonies. They hatch chicks, arranging nests on the eaves of rocks and cliffs, where they have gulls and cleaners as noisy neighbors. Only on the shores of freshwater reservoirs cormorants adapted to place nests on trees and even directly on the beaches of small lake islands.
How cormorants hunt
The main object of cormorant hunting is small (weed) fish, and for freshwater individuals - even crayfish and frogs.
When diving, this fisherman not only rows his paws, but also helps himself with half-open wings and a stiff tail. By the way, the bird can be under water for about two minutes and descend to a depth of twenty-five meters.
As a companion creature, the cormorant bird, whose photo can be seen in the article, prefers to hunt collectively. Moreover, mind you, not only with representatives of your species, but even with pelicans.
The principle of such a hunt is that the birds, surrounding the fish school, narrow the flank coverage and drive it to the shore. But they grab the fish in turn, the sharp end of the beak, and, emerging from the water, cleverly toss it to swallow.
Cormorant - a bird that gets wet specifically
True, these fishermen often get so carried away that they get wet to the last feather and then dry on the shore, spreading their wings, exposing themselves to the sun and decorating themselves with supports for nets, large stones, and sometimes climbing even on dull-standing peaceful pelicans.
It would seem that this is a mistake of nature - cormorant, a bird that dives a lot, swims and gets wet so easily? It turns out this makes sense. Wet plumage tightly fits the body and displaces air, which makes it heavier, and accordingly - more maneuverable in water. Experts say that some cormorants even swallow stones for hunting for this purpose.
Features of the Great Cormorant
The Great Cormorant is so named because it is indeed a large bird. This is the most common view on the territory of Russia, where it flies in the spring, with the first warming (although in the event of a cold snap it may even come back).
Unlike its relatives, the great cormorant is monogamen. He creates a couple for life. And the family always flies to the nesting places.
And in everyday life, the great cormorant is quite conservative. So, for example, he can remain faithful to his beloved branch on his winterhouse site all his life. Each bird vigilantly protects its perch from the creeping of neighbors. And returning after a year, all cormorants sit for the night strictly according to the established procedure.
