The Double-crested Cormorant
Photo by: Jim Richards
Latest News April 21st, 2008 The last chance for public comment on the proposed cormorant cull in Point Pelee National Park is Wednesday April 23rd, 2008. Point Pelee National Park is pushing to move forward with a cull of thousands of Double-crested Cormorants over the next few years. Many of you participated in a public consultation process on this matter last fall. The good news is that the results of that consultation show the vast majority of people are opposed to the culling of cormorants.
There is another consultation period related to the environmental assessment process and we must ensure they understand that the majority of the public remains opposed to the lethal culling of cormorants on Middle island. While Parks Canada suggests that culling is necessary to protect the “ecological integrity” of the island, this cruel and ineffective management strategy will in fact interfere with natural processes.
Please send a quick note stating that you are opposed to the culling of cormorants on Middle Island.
Please click here to view the EA posting.
All of the contact info is on the web page. Here is the e-mail address for quick reference:
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For more information please visit:
http://www.zoocheck.com/cormorant/ Judge stalls cormorant cull April 3rd, 2008 A federal judge in Toronto has put the brakes - temporarily - on a proposed cull of cormorants on Middle Island, prompting two animal protection groups opposing the cull to claim a minor victory. The judge ruled that no cull can happen until a federal judge says so. "Today's order is literally 'Do not touch those birds until a judge can review these matters,'" Zoocheck Canada's campaign director Julie Woodyer said Wednesday. Click here to read the full article:
http://www.earthroots.org/index.php/20080403116/News/Latest/Judge-delays-cormorant-cull.html Action Alert - Cormorants under threat in Point Pelee National Park March 14th, 2008 Parks Canada is proposing the lethal cull of thousands of Double-crested Cormorants in Point Pelee National Park this spring as part of their "conservation plan" for the Carolinian ecosystem found there. The cormorant colony on Middle Island, like every other bird colony in the world, is causing localized changes to vegetation around their nest sites. The Double-crested Cormorant is a native species which is considered part of the Carolinian ecosystem and as such, should be left to nest peacefully on the island regardless of the size of the colony. While Parks Canada suggests that culling is necessary to protect the “ecological integrity” of the island, this cruel and ineffective management strategy will in fact interfere with natural processes. Please visit www.cormorantdefenders.ca to find out what you can do to help! The Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus) is a large greenish-black waterbird with a slender, hook-tipped bill; orange facial skin and all four toes webbed together. The adults have two short tufts of feathers behind their eyes for a brief period during the breeding season, hence the name: double-crested. It is one of six species of cormorants found in North America.
Since their feathers are not waterproof, the Double-crested
cormorant will look for a place to perch after diving, to dry its
feathers in the wind.
Native to North America, its breeding range extends from Alaska to the West Indies. It can breed in freshwater inland lakes and along the sea coast.
A colonial bird
Photo: Peaceful Parks Coalition
Photo: Jim Richards
Cormorants choose to colonize islands close to shore, and headlands wherever there is an abundant food supply. In the Great Lakes watershed, Lake Ontario and Lake Huron provide the most habitat options for these birds. Cormorants receive a lot of negative attention because they are highly visible; nest in large colonies and feed close to the shoreline. Also there is concern that they eat too much fish and damage trees.
An environmental messenger
Images like this one, of a cormorant with a
deformed bill, helped to raise awareness of the
effects of DDT (Image: Melanie Griffin)
Following its widespread use after World War II, DDT and similar pesticides virtually wiped out the cormorant population. By the early 1970s the population had declined significantly. A ban on DDT, a decline in phosphorous and persistent toxic chemicals and the presence of non-native Alewives, Round Gobies and Rainbow Smelt all contributed to the cormorant's successful recovery. Its presence signifies large populations of these and other fish species.
Cormorants are victims of an enormous misinformation campaign
Many people don't understand the ecological role of these colonial birds and the natural processes that occur when they are present.
Myth: Cormorants consume large quantities of desirable game fish.
Fact: The majority of the cormorant's diet is invasive species such as Alewives and Round Gobies, which are destructive to the ecosystem, non-commercial species such as sticklebacks and extremely abundant species such as Yellow Perch.
Myth: Cormorants are a major contributor to the declining fish populations in the Great Lakes.
Fact: Surveys of stomach contents indicate the birds consume approximately 0.5% of the fish in Lake Ontario, which is insignificant when compared to the 13% consumed by predatory game fish.
A real threat to fish populations in the Great Lakes is overfishing but it is politically simpler for wildlife managers to target cormorants.
The best way to restore fish populations is to prevent overfishing and high volumes of bycatch, stop the spread of invasive species, restrict shoreline development, agricultural runoff and the leaching of contaminants and stop contributors to acid rain and global warming.
Presqu'ile - a bird watcher's paradise
Home to the largest most diverse bird colonies in the Great Lakes, Presqu'ile Provincial Park is a mecca for bird watchers. The Park is an important shorebird staging area and is recognized internationally as an Important Bird Area.
Shore of High Bluff Island in Presqu'ile Provincial Park
Photos: Jim Richards
Culling cormorants in a bird sanctuary
In May 2004, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) killed 6,030 cormorants on High Bluff and Gull Islands in Presqu'ile Provincial Park in Brighton. This was deemed necessary to protect trees and other bird species. When 15 tonnes of dead cormorants were dumped using all-terrain vehicles on the very island the MNR was claiming to protect, it was evident their objective was not about protecting the ecology of the area.
Myth: Cormorants threaten bird diversity because they are aggressive competitors for nest sites and fish.
Fact: The population of Black-crowned Night-Herons and Great Blue Herons increased in Presqu'ile Provincial Park after cormorants colonized the park's islands.
Cormorants are monogamous. Both parents will incubate the
eggs and take care of the chicks.
Photo: Jim Richards
Tree damage
Cormorants build large, shallow nests in trees and on the ground. They may gradually kill the trees they nest in through the deposition of their guano and by breaking branches for use in their nests. The MNR argued that a cull was necessary to protect the trees so that other birds like Great Blue Herons could nest in them. Great Blue Herons also destroy the trees they nest in, as do the Great Egrets and Black-crowned Night-Herons in Presqu'ile Provincial Park.
Despite the damage these birds cause, the trees can continue to support them for long periods of time. The same nests may be used for at least four years. A real threat to bird diversity is the number of trees that humans are destroying - not cormorants.
Barometer for ecosystem health
The health of the Great Lakes has dramatically improved since the '70s and the cormorant is a good indication of this. Levels of phosphorus and persistent toxic chemicals have declined significantly. Cormorants indicate an abundant supply of fish.
Cormorants play an important role in controlling invasive species such as Alewife and Round Gobies. Rather than being valued for their ecological service, cormorants have been made into a convenient for the degradation of Ontario's fish population.
Nature's way of keeping populations in check
Ontario's cormorant population will not increase forever though the stocking of invasive species may have enhanced the carrying capacity of the Great Lakes for these birds. According to Environment Canada, the cormorant population will eventually outstrip its food supply, outgrow its habitat or will be reduced by disease or predation. Populations are already decreasing in some parts of Ontario.
Culls are expensive band-aid solutions to a human-induced problem
Culls are expensive and need to be continued in the long term to achieve the goal of reducing the cormorant population. They are a stop gap 'solution' unless continued indefinitely. A cull does not reduce the local area's desirability to cormorants, nor its carrying capacity. Other fish-eating birds will replace the culled individuals. Barring massive slaughter, the rate of cormorant population growth will actually accelerate in response to lethal control.
Province-wide efforts to eradicate cormorants are a waste of limited financial resources to control what is a natural ecological process.
Coyotes, foxes, raccoons and other birds will prey on
cormorant eggs and chicks. Photo: Jim Richards
LINKS
Environment Canada's Wildspace
Killer flap on Leslie Spit
BY Tim Tiner NOW Magazine- March 24th 2005
Cornell University's All About Birds
Visit the Cormorant Defenders International website for more information:
www.cormorantdefenders.ca
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