[CT Birds] Cormorants: CT River

[Boletebill]

On the lower CT River (Gillette's Castle to the Baldwin Bridge)the Great Cormorant winter population seems to fall in the normal to "slightly low" range this year.  That's just a generalized observation based on the birds we see every weekend on the navigational markers in the river as they "dry out".  I'd take a wild guess that this part of the river holds  between 75 and 100 winter birds.  I assume that Great Cormorants, like many fish eaters MAY be much more dispersed in CT this year as a result of the mild winter and so much "ice free" water. Just for fun I'll try to remember to do a Cormorant count today on the RiverQuest's Eagle Watch trip.
   
                                                                  Bill Yule
   
                                                                                

"COMINS, Patrick" <PCOMINS at audubon.org> wrote:
  Re Great Cormorants, folks within their nesting range are concerned that the population is in decline, at least in Maine and perhaps the southern Maritimes. The suspected cause might come as a surprise; it's thought that the return of the Bald Eagle is having a negative effect on the cormorants. In some cases, nesting Bald Eagles have displaced historical cormorant rookeries.

Patrick Comins, Meriden, CT

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