Stuff We Learned On The Cruise: The Cormorant

In coordinated air raids they sit on a rocky outcropping and one-by-one fly upriver. When their hunting is done they let the river current take them back to their starting point. They float facing backward!

If you go to new places you will see new things. I am exceptionally curious. A trip like our recent cruise is always a learning experience.

Saint John, New Brunswick was full of cormorants. It’s a bird I’d never knowingly seen.

The photo on the left shows a cormorant flying low over the Saint John River near the Irving Paper Mill. The river looked dark and murky. The bird too!

Wikipedia says, “They are coastal rather than oceanic birds, and some have colonized inland waters.” That fits this salty river location.

In coordinated air raids they sit on a rocky outcropping and one-by-one fly upriver. When their hunting is done they let the river current take them back to their starting point. They float facing backward!

The cormorants fly low–just a few inches above the water’s surface. If they see fish they dive in and instantly disappear from sight! A few times I tried to catch them floating to the surface, but knowing the point of entry was little help!

Coming back from the beach our photo guide Lance saw a cormorant sitting on a rock staring at the shore. He stopped the bus. I got out and starting popping away circling the bird as my shutter clicked. He didn’t flinch and I didn’t move any closer.