It's the Warren Avenue Bridge that has the nesting Pelagic Cormorants. I can't remember the numbers but it's over 300 pairs. It's been a significant issue for maintaining this bridge, keeping it painted and protected from rust. One year a contractor had to be paid for not painting the bridge because of the discovery of the nesting cormorants late in the nesting season. The nesting chronology of the birds was highly asynchronous, with fully feathered young present on some nests at the same time that there were eggs or very young nestlings in others.

Kelly McAllister
Olympia, Washington
----- Original Message -----
From: Mark Vernon
To: Tweeters at u.washington.edu
Sent: Sunday, July 13, 2008 12:54 PM
Subject: [Tweeters] mothballed Carrier and Cormorants story, Bremerton


My brother, who served in the Navy, was with me yesterday when we visited Bremerton. We went aboard the preserved destroyer the "Turner Joy". He told about a time, back in 1992, when he and a boarding party went aboard the mothballed Aircraft Carrier, the "Oriskany". They were salvaging some old parts and items. He opened a hatch going to the weather deck of the carrier, a side deck below the flight deck that is open on the sides of the vessel. He was greeted by a great number of nesting Cormorants, who were very startled! He didn't think that they were very visible to people looking at the ship from afar. My brother didn't want to disturb the birds any further and quickly closed the hatch. He is pretty sure that they are the same type of Cormorant that we saw yesterday, Pelagic Cormorants, and not Double-crested ones.

Which bridge in Bremerton do Pelagic Cormorants nest under?

My previous visit to the Turner Joy was in 1998 and I found Purple Martins nesting in it. No Purple Martins were seen yesterday.

Mark Vernon
Renton, WA
mailto ma_vern at yahoo.com




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