Subject: FW: Bremerton Pelagic Cormorants
Date: Jul 18 07:03:20 2003
From: MartinMuller - MartinMuller at email.msn.com


Dear all,

Not only have the Pelagic Cormorants been under the Warren Avenue Bridge in Bremerton for at least three years (that's how long I have been looking for peregrines there), but they were well-established when I got there the first time. At that time I counted maybe 150 nests, the last time 200 or so (counting from the park south of the bridge is less accurate than walking the catwalks beneath the bridge - for which you need DOT access).

It is funny to read someone (an "environmental specialist" no less) suggesting that the presence of the peregrines would have made the site more attractive to cormorants due to reduced Bald Eagle predation. When you go out in the San Juan Islands you will find cormorants nesting right underneath a tree with an eagle nest. These birds have been living with each other for millions of years. Both are opportunistic. If we provide them with an opportunity, they may take it.

The Warren Avenue bridge is built over Port Washington Narrows, which has very strong tidal currents (connects Dyes Inlet to Sinclair Inlet and Puget Sound). The cormorants find abundant nest material along the intertidal shore and the currents are like a well-set dinner table.

Also, if any of you have ever watched Bald Eagles look for food, you will know how unlikely it is for an eagle to fly underneath a bridge (however high that bridge is), and try and maneuver around among girders. The cormorants' nests are plastered on the horizontal ledges formed by metal I-beams that are about a foot or foot-and-a-half wide. No eagle in its right mind will try to emulate a hummingbird in order to try to gain access to this site. It's simply not eagle-style.

I also fail to see how the peregrine's presence would attract the cormorants. What's more, from personal observation I know that the peregrines occasionally chase the cormorants away from locations too close to the peregrine's chosen perches. If anything I would suspect that the cormorants are "only" colonizing half the bridge because the peregrines keep them off the rest of the bridge!

I have spoken with DOT personnel over the years (regarding the peregrines) and at least the people I spoke with were well-aware of the cormorants. The fact that one branch of DOT doesn't coordinate with another (the painters in this case) is not the peregrine's fault. But the need for scapegoats is universal I guess.

Martin Muller, Seattle
MartinMuller at email.msn.com
----- Original Message -----
From: Li, Kevin
To: 'Kathy Andrich' ; Tweeters (postings) (E-mail)
Sent: Wednesday, July 16, 2003 8:44 AM
Subject: RE: FW: Bremerton Pelagic Cormorants


I just got a note that it was reported three years ago to Seattle Audubon Society that there were 200 pelagic cormorants under the bridge in Bremerton. Apparently the cormorants would not have been a surprise to all, and they had some history of using that site.

Kevin Li
kdli at msn.com