A colony on West Branch Reservoir

May

Did you know double-crested cormorants use all types of stuff to build their nests? “Rope, deflated balloons, fishnet, and plastic debris . . . Parts of dead birds are commonly used too,” according to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Cormorants are on my mind because I spotted a bunch of their nests in a tree next to the West Branch Reservoir, somewhere along Route 301 on the Carmel-Kent border. See photo.

I’ve always wondered whether the cormorants I see are of the double-crested variety or the great variety. But, as the Cornell lab points out, the double-crested cormorant is the “most numerous and widespread North American cormorant” and “the only one that occurs in large numbers inland as well as on the coast.”

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 21st, 2009 at 4:02 pm by Mike Risinit.
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