Cormorants

[wakina]

We had lots of Robins all winter long and our local pair of Bald Eagles stayed all winter also, regular Black Birds and Red Wing Black Birds are back in large numbers also but I have not seen the Cormorants in and around our local reservoir this spring, we have a large number of Gulls but no Cormorants. I have not seen the large flights of them heading north this year either. Actually I have only seen one flight of Cormorants this spring and that flight was made up of less than 50 birds. Just wondering if any of you have seen them in large numbers so far this year.

I hope they all choked over the winter but I am not holding my breath on that thought.

[BtweenShots]

I walked the dog today on the dyke wall at Metzger's and I did not see any on the lake nor any in the marsh area either.
Maybe a good sign

Gene

[Jawbreaker]

Hopefully they've moved to lake Ontario.

[rubycat16]

There is a really good UTUBE video of Wisconsin DNR doing a perch survey. They discuss at length the impact comorant have on perch population. They state that these birds each eat about a pound of perch per day! They go on further to discuss controlling thier reproduction by spaying oil on the eggs in nesting areas thus starving the embryo. They claim it is very effective in controlling the comorant population.

[Jawbreaker]

There is a really good UTUBE video of Wisconsin DNR doing a perch survey. They discuss at length the impact comorant have on perch population. They state that these birds each eat about a pound of perch per day! They go on further to discuss controlling thier reproduction by spaying oil on the eggs in nesting areas thus starving the embryo. They claim it is very effective in controlling the comorant population.

Can't remember if I saw it in a show or read an article, but they said they tagged young Smallmouth on Erie to see how the birds affected them. They found thousands of the tags under nests on, I believe, West Sister. Also, the Indiana DNR recommends putting oil on resident goose eggs to control them also.

[bahabear112]

I was driving to Youngstown last Sunday on IR 76. As I passed Meander reservoir I saw the black plague (cormorants) perched on old road pilings out in the lake. Looked like hundreds of them. There like mosquitoes. Worthless.

[chumthrower]

They eat everything that swims and have a serious impact on the lake. Their crap is toxic. Look what they did to Middle Island. It's practically defoliated. Motor up close to it and get a whiff. It stinks! When we were kids we'd run all over that island and goof around in the old lodge. I wouldn't step foot on the place without a haz-mat suit. Nothing a scoped .22 and a few thousand shells wouldn't fix!

[wakina]

They eat everything that swims and have a serious impact on the lake. Their crap is toxic. Look what they did to Middle Island. It's practically defoliated. Motor up close to it and get a whiff. It stinks! When we were kids we'd run all over that island and goof around in the old lodge. I wouldn't step foot on the place without a haz-mat suit. Nothing a scoped .22 and a few thousand shells wouldn't fix!

That old Lodge was supposedly own and run by the Chicago gangster AL Capone. It was a haven for running bootleg booze into the States during prohibition. When I was a kid there was an older gent who claimed he ran illegal liquor from there and was shot at and hit with the bullet penetrating both of his buttcheeks but still managed to escape capture. He always hung out at the Blue Heron Restaurant where the current Moose Lodge is now located. True or not I have no idea, but heard the same story several years later from a co worker who knew that man's son. You are right those birds sure did destroy that island as well as killed off the feral sheep that roamed there after it was abandoned.

[Hoytman86]

My guess is they never really migrated this year. I duck hunt SW Ohio and the birds were scarce this year due to the mild weather. You'd think they would need to migrate to eat, but I'm not sure the lake ever froze over did it?

[wakina]

My guess is they never really migrated this year. I duck hunt SW Ohio and the birds were scarce this year due to the mild weather. You'd think they would need to migrate to eat, but I'm not sure the lake ever froze over did it?

I gave that some thought but I did see large numbers headed south this past fall and into eaely December! I always curse to myself when I see them that is why I remembered seeing them. But you could be right and they could have headed back and I missed them.