I have begun to do some literature searching on cormorants spreading their
wings. I am embarrassed to admit that I had never given it much thought
before. I had read, and heard that Cormorants didn't have the waterproofing
ability of other waterbirds (which allowed them to dive deeper in search of
fish) and that they made up for it by spreading their wings and drying them
before they ventured off into the water. Seemed simple enough to me.
So I have been hanging out at UW library trying to look like a student again.
I appreciate having such a great resource around.
I read a short article in the Wilson Bulletin (100:140-144) Wing spreading in
Chilean Blue-eyed Shags. It had this conclusion "The hypothesis that
wing-spreading in the Chilean Blue-eyed Shag serves primarily to dry feathers
is supported by our observations that wing-spreading was often associated
with preening, most wing-spreading birds had wet plumage, and shags did not
return to the water immediately after wing-spreading."
Another short article published in Ibis (120:540-542) has a different
conclusion. A Possible Function of the Wing-drying posture in the Reed
Cormorant. "I suggest that the conspicuous open-winged posture in the Reed
Cormorant and other species may have as its primary function the
advertisement to other cormorants that here is a profitable fishing area, and
that to join that particular roosting assemblage will be mutually
advantageous."
I have never heard of this type of community function in any other species.
I would like to read Rijke's article "The water repellancy and feather
structure of cormorants." It is in the Journal of Experimental Biology. UW
has the Journal of Experimental Zoology, and the Journal of Experimental
Botony, but I did not see the Journal of Experimental Biology. Any ideas
where I might find that one?

I will have a longer report once I get through some of the other articles.

Jim Rosso
Issaquah