Nature Study

Cormorants hunting in a pack

11-19-03, Bay Trail just south of Pt. Isabel

Today I saw cormorants fishing together in an organized way. There were 8 of them and they were in a line perpendicular to the shore, which they followed. They would dive at approximately the same time and keep pace with each other, obviously hunting and herding fish. I saw 9 of them doing the same thing in the Berkeley Marina once. When the Pt. Isabel pack got to the southern point they flew up and back north rather than turn east to fish the quieter inlet. What could they have been eating? When I saw the bunch at the Berkeley Marina, I saw one get a fish that looked about 6 inches long and more than an inch thick. The cormorant held it up and then dove under with it, apparantly in order to swallow it better.

What was really interesting was the opportunistic behavior of the snowy egret following on the bank. It followed the cormorant pack and would fly out when it saw a fish near the surface and try to grab it. It would fly and land, fly and land, always keeping up with the cormorant line.

I'll have to look up the group word for cormorants; if there is one. It can't be "flock"; it would be more appropriate as "school" or "pod", but it can't be that either.