Scottish Fly Fisher on MSN

"Scottish Fly Fisher" wrote in message
...
...The cormorant problem is not only a result of overfishing at sea, but
because the birds are protected. Populations have increased massively
since
these birds were placed under protection.....

...If only the could adapt like the gulls, and live off land-fills and by
mugging the occasional drunk for their kebab. :-)

I don't recall ever seeing a cormorant when I was a boy growing up on the
shore of Lake Michigan. As far as I knew, even many years later when I
developed an interest in birds, they were strictly marine birds. As a
matter of fact, I still don't know whether they are considered native on the
Great Lakes. I first started noticing them (much to my excited pleasure)
maybe 15 or 20 years ago. These days it's nearly impossible to spend any
time on the beaches or the lake without seeing many of them, and their
numbers seem to be increasing steadily.

Presumably, they are also protected here as they are not considered to be
either game birds or pests......not yet, anyway.....and protected is the
default status for anything not covered by the other two categories. Not
that protected status makes much difference, I suppose. Nobody seems to be
much interested in shooting them; the days of widespread shooting of
anything that moves are pretty much gone around here.

Interesting that they are burgeoning both here and there. One wonders
whether the same sorts of dynamics are at work.....and what they might be.

Also interesting.....and disturbing.....is the fact that the populations of
gulls (primarily herring gulls and ring-billed gulls) have also been
increasing at an alarming rate, much to the detriment of many of the shore
birds from what I've heard. I haven't researched the matter, so I don't
really know what's behind this rise either, but I do know that it has a lot
of wildlife scientists and managers very concerned.

And then, just about a month ago, I saw my first ever Lake Michigan
pelican....a brown pelican. Not sure that the existence of a pelican here
means anything, but watching all the changes that have taken place in the
past 50 years or so is very unsettling. The Great Lakes ecology is reeling
from one serious blow after another, with no end in sight.

Wolfgang

"Wolfgang" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
...
SNIP
Interesting that they are burgeoning both here and there. One wonders
whether the same sorts of dynamics are at work.....and what they might be.

SNIP

Ongoing and well founded research suggests that the dynamics are much the
same. The single main cause being the massive overfishing of food chain
items. Large areas of ocean around the Americas are now almost devoid of
life, forcing birds and other predators to seek alternatives. These
alternatives are of course also slowly, or even rapidly eroded, as the birds
then increase to beyond what the resource can bear, and then go into sharp
decline, but only after much damage and destruction has taken place.

TL
MC

"Mike Connor" wrote in message
...

"Wolfgang" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
...
SNIP
Interesting that they are burgeoning both here and there. One wonders
whether the same sorts of dynamics are at work.....and what they might
be.

SNIP

Ongoing and well founded research suggests that the dynamics are much the
same. The single main cause being the massive overfishing of food chain
items. Large areas of ocean around the Americas are now almost devoid of
life, forcing birds and other predators to seek alternatives. These
alternatives are of course also slowly, or even rapidly eroded, as the
birds then increase to beyond what the resource can bear, and then go into
sharp decline, but only after much damage and destruction has taken place.

I can't deny that overharvesting the cormorants' food supply in marine
habitats has contributed to their dispersal in search of greener pastures,
but the Great Lakes even at their most fecund are virtually sterile as their
compared to oceanic environments. There must be something more going on, I
think.

Wolfgang

"Wolfgang" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
...
SNIP
I can't deny that overharvesting the cormorants' food supply in marine
habitats has contributed to their dispersal in search of greener pastures,
but the Great Lakes even at their most fecund are virtually sterile as
their compared to oceanic environments. There must be something more
going on, I think.

Wolfgang


Oh doubtless there are other mechanisms at work as well, there always are,
often ( indeed, usually!) extremely complex to boot. I have no really
specific information on the Great Lakes as such, although they are also
mentioned in some research I have read. Large numbers of cormorants have now
apparently developed quite specific behaviour for exploiting inland areas.
This is especially evident in parts of Europe, where the birds have indeed
virtually denuded even large areas of fish. Where there were once no birds
at all, there are now quite large numbers, and very active nesting colonies.

Some gulls have also been observed to have completely modified their feeding
areas and behaviour, now coming inland and feeding almost exclusively on
rubbish tips and in similar areas. Huge flocks of these birds can now be
observed in such places.

There is quite a lot of literature on the matter, and a google search will
also turn up a great deal. Perhaps there is indeed something a little more
specific on the Great Lakes?

TL
MC

May be of interest;

http://www.fws.gov/migratorybirds/is...tlakes_q&a.htm

It should be remembered of course that there are quite a number of cormorant
species, and not all will necessarily behave in the same manner, or for the
same reasons.

TL
MC

"Mike Connor" wrote in message
...
May be of interest;

http://www.fws.gov/migratorybirds/is...tlakes_q&a.htm

Thanks, Mike. Very informative and interesting page.

It reminded me that I read a story some months ago about a group of people
who took it upon themselves to slaughter a nesting colony of birds somewhere
because of the perception that the birds were responsible for declining game
fish populations.

Anybody remember that story?

Wolfgang

"Wolfgang" wrote in message
...

"Mike Connor" wrote in message
...
May be of interest;

http://www.fws.gov/migratorybirds/is...tlakes_q&a.htm

Thanks, Mike. Very informative and interesting page.

It reminded me that I read a story some months ago about a group of people
who took it upon themselves to slaughter a nesting colony of birds
somewhere because of the perception that the birds were responsible for
declining game fish populations.

Anybody remember that story?

Found it:

"Cormorant predation on smallmouth bass in the Great Lakes so alarming that
some individuals have taken matters into their own hands. In 1998, nine
fishermen killed about 2,000 adult cormorants on Little Galloo Island in
Lake Ontario. The men were found guilty of violating the Migratory Bird
Treaty Act. They were fined and sentenced to several months of home
confinement."

from:

http://sports.espn.go.com/outdoors/b...ews_cormorants

Wolfgang

Also of interest;
http://sports.espn.go.com/outdoors/b...ews_cormorants

http://www.nmnh.si.edu/BIRDNET/OC/experthelp/DCCO.html

this search;
http://www.google.de/search?hl=de&q=...rmorants&meta=

Will turn up a whole load of stuff.

A list of species is here;
http://www.camacdonald.com/birding/S...Cormorants.htm

May also be interesting;
http://www.nerc.ac.uk/publications/l...15fastfood.asp

http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk...73304/?lang=_e

There is a great deal more available on the net.

TL
MC

"Mike Connor" wrote in message news:dhem1a$32p$02

Some gulls have also been observed to have completely modified their
feeding
areas and behaviour, now coming inland and feeding almost exclusively on
rubbish tips and in similar areas. Huge flocks of these birds can now be
observed in such places.


Mike, In bangalore, southern India, there are thousands of kites (brahminny
and pariah kites) that soar around allover the city. When I 1st went there,
I couldn't believe how many birds of prey I was seeing; it was amazing, I
was taking piks all the time! I later found out from a birdwatching
enthuisiast from south of bangalore, that the kites are more or less city
scavengers "similar to your gulls", he told me. He also told me that back
home in England 100 years ago, we had loads of city kites too, but we
persecuted them, and the gulls later filled the vacuum.

"Wolfgang" wrote in
:


I can't deny that overharvesting the cormorants' food supply in marine
habitats has contributed to their dispersal in search of greener
pastures, but the Great Lakes even at their most fecund are virtually
sterile as their compared to oceanic environments. There must be
something more going on, I think.

Wolfgang




Great Lakes Cormorant management is an absolute nightmare. I've heard the
NY DEC speak on this a number of times. They have federal permission for
lethal management, but conservation groups keep preventing it through legal
action. The DEC's main tool is egg oiling.

A big issue is that the US and the Canuckistanians have to be on the same
page with respect to management, or things get screwed up.

--
Scott
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