Subject: Re: Cormorants and Hummers
Date: Mar 22 07:09:15 1998
From: Sharron Huffman - sharron at ptialaska.net
Thanks to all of you who posted responses privately and on the list. It
does seem that the cormorant's webbed feet work just fine on a variety of
perches. Martin Muller's message was especially informative, and I think
others might be interested:
"Some species of cormorants, like the continental subspecies of the Great
Cormorant _Phalacrocorax carbo sinensis_, as well as the Double-crested
Cormorant _Phalacrocorax auritus_ (the latter species is the one your
friends see along the Ship Canal) regularly nest in trees, building stick
nests and all. They also nest on rocky islands; the two methods are usually
not mixed within one colony.
Despite the webs, the feet are quite suitable for perching in trees. Outside
the nesting season the birds often roost in trees (including along the Ship
Canal, or the island in Green Lake). The reason is probably simply safety.
Not much will happen to these birds perched well off the ground, unless of
course they pick up strings of fishing line during daytime foraging. Then
their nighttime perches can become deathtraps, as the filaments become
entangled with branches and the birds are lynched as they attempt take-off.
Another good reason for education of the fishing public... (sorry, you
didn't ask for that, I sometimes get sidetracked). Your friends probably
have seen birds strung up along the canal, as I have.
Granted, cormorants appear ill equipped to sitting in trees and they do
appear to have some balance problems, especially at landing time. This
probably has more to do with their relatively heavy wing-loading and heavy
body than their feet. I've watched their antics at Green Lake. Sometimes a
Bald Eagle _Haliaeetus leucocephalus_ stays perched on the island till late
afternoon and cormorants flying in from Lake Washington, Lake Union or
Elliott Bay abort their landing, alighting on the lake instead. Minutes
after the eagle leaves there is a mad dash by the 100+ (sometimes as many as
200+ roost in the trees on the island) cormorants, all trying to land in the
trees. They land relatively far from the tree trunks, on the unstable part
of the branches, and would normally sidle closer to the trunk before
settling down for the night. However, often a second (or even third) bird
lands on the same branch before the first has reached a more stable perch,
and consequently the first (sometimes the newcomers too) is knocked out of
the tree. And they all have to start over again. It's one of the more
amusing spectacles taking place on the lake on late afternoons in winter.
Martin Muller, Seattle
MartinMuller at email.msn.com"
Meanwhle,here in Southeast Alaska, I'm still waiting for that first hummer!
Sharron Huffman "It is better to receive a mild rebuke
Ketchikan, Alaska than to perform an onerous task."
-Roald Dahl