Tweeters:

Michael Price writes about Brandt's Cormorant (BRCO):

>Away from its breeeding colonies, BRCO almost never perches close inshore,
>at least in Vancouver BC, where instead of being a winter-only rarity as
>local wisdom had it, they're actually fairly common on the offshore islands,
>buoys and beacons of Burrard Inlet in autumn, winter and spring, and a
>little further out in Georgia Strait in summer, but it's always a real
>rarity along the shoreline.

In our (i.e. Pt Reyes Bird Observatory) studies of Brandt's
Cormorants banded as chicks at the Farallon Islands in California, we had
significant numbers of band recoveries from British Columbia, mostly
centered around Haro Strait and the southern Strait of Georgia. In fact,
there were more band recoveries of Farallon Brandt's Cormorants from
British Columbia than from either Washington or Oregon. This might, of
course, indicate that more of them died in Canadian waters, or that more
people responded when they found a banded bird, but the pattern did
exist. The band recoveries showed a northerly post-breeding dispersal of
Brandt's Cormorants from the Farallones, particularly of young birds (0-3
years old). Recoveries of older birds were mostly in central and
northern California.

Kees Vermeer also wrote about winter feeding flocks of Brandt's
Cormorants numbering a couple thousand in Haro Strait. This might mean
that a sizable portion of the northern California population moves to
Canadian waters, at least some years.

As for roosting sites, Brandt's Cormorants seem to have a strong
preference for rock under their feet. Their favorite perches are
definitely offshore rocks. I have very rarely seen them on logs, such as
in Port Angeles harbor, and I have never seen them on piers or pilings
such as used by Pelagics and Double-cresteds.

Also, after watching Brandt's Cormorants for several years on the
Farallon Islands, I have never seen one spread its wings when roosting,
such as done frequently by Double-cresteds (for drying feathers? for
thermoregulation?) and occasionally by Pelagics. Curiously, Brandt's
Cormorants don't do this.

Bob Boekelheide
Sequim