Cormorants.. such a lovely bird

[Lunker Larry]

Just love how the beautify nature and contribute to the fresh smell of the outdoors.

[oldmanjoe]

  Is that a pun on words , because the picture was taken at a distance ..

[Keta]

We call them shitaquarts, nasty birds. 

[Wompus Cat]

BAD COMMORANT



GOOD CORMORANT



 a few of them can WIPE out a fishing Hole real quick .
They are a Federally Protected Nuisance like MOST Politicians.

[Midway Tommy]

Man, you hit the nail on the head there, Henry!    I can't believe those POSs  (both)  are still federally protected!   

[philaroman]

ranger pulls up to a boat full of shot shitaquarts [new fav    thanks]
says, "you know, Cormorants are protected"...  guy gives a sob-story:
not a duck in sight all day...  I hunt to feed family -- not, for sport...  blahblahblah
ranger let's him go, but just before he pulls away, asks
"What do Cormorants taste like, anyway?"
"Kinda' like Loon w/ a hint of Bald Eagle" 


https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-512830/Snapped-The-moment-fearsome-pike-swallowed-ravenous-cormorant.html

[Keta]

When I hunted waterfowl they were rarely seen and are not native to the Upper Klamath Basin, USFS guestamates we have 20,000 now.  I rate them one small step above flying rats, starlings.   We have thousands of merganzers in the basin but they have always been here. 

[Shellbelly]

I found myself under a couple hundred once.  They were coming to roost in some tall cypress trees.  I was working perch beds and kept wondering what was hitting the water...and what was that fine white mist all around me on such a clear day. (Here's your sign! moment)

Some around here call 'em water turkeys.  Now, if they would swim down and eat zebra mussels, I'd like 'em a little.

A friend of mine lost most of his hybrid bluegill to those birds.  He called the Game Warden and told him he was going to open season on 'em.  The Game Warden told him he couldn't hear him, must be a bad connection. 

[Lunker Larry]

They not only wipe out wild life roosting areas but the water around these roosting areas, Mot only that each bird eats on average one pound of fish a day. Here in southern Ontario there's millions of them. Think of what they do to fish stocks, young of the year etc. And yes, they are protected. Those with the strongest voice seems to be people who live in cities and only connection with nature is a flower box on their condo deck.

[Gfish]

Good and bad with most everything in the world. Cormorants... ah, they keep the water fertilized, which leads to more productivity...?

[Lunker Larry]

Zoom in on the pictures and you'll see the damage their guano does. This damage is from this summer.Nothing lives in the Water around there roosts

[Keta]

Good and bad with most everything in the world. Cormorants... ah, they keep the water fertilized, which leads to more productivity...?

The bottom of Upper Klamth Lake is 200' of bird sh*# with 6' of water on top and it does not need more.  It does not take long for a few hundred shitaquarts to destroy their roosting area.  We have a large number of egrets in our area that do the same around their roosts but not 10% of the number of cormorants.   They are also displacing the native merganzers and have chased bald eagles from some of their roosting areas on the lake.  If it was 5000 not 20,000 on the lake the balance would be tolerable.  The large # is also harming our pelican and western greeb  population and the endangered fish in the upper basin, far more than taking irrigation water out of the lake.

[Midway Tommy]

Good and bad with most everything in the world. Cormorants... ah, they keep the water fertilized, which leads to more productivity...?

I've yet to come across anything good regarding Cormorants. They destroy fish populations, pollute waters and are just plain nuisances!    Why the Feds protect them is beyond common sense!

[Shellbelly]

I looked around on the net and found that the national and many state governmental agencies have been "trying" to control the cormorant.  It's federally protected, but permits can be issued to control them. 

The problem starts with the fact that they were once endangered, sooooo, there are folks that believe it will happen again if the government unleashes citizens and state agencies to effectively control them.

Until the cormorant kills the last unicorn steelhead, or its poop kills the last magic water fern it will continue to be handled delicately.  Canadian fishermen....you don't stand a chance at even approaching this bird with bad intentions.  Scaring them off their roost can get you locked up.

Amazing.

[Keta]

They are one of the main contributing factors it keeping the Klamath and Lost River suckers from recovering.  Poor water quality below Irongate Dam is a larger factor for the Klamath River salmon but having too many shitaquarts does not help.  What will help is allowing more cool Shasta and Trinity river water to flow into the Klamath (90% of the Trinity is diverted to LA) and not opening the river mouth with backhoes until the fall rains cool the river and allowing salmon in to be harvested when certain people need alcohol money.  Upper basin irrigation is also a part of the problem but not the main problem.

 FYI,  the temperature of the water coming out of Klamath Lake run in the low to mid 70s this time of year and is not good for salmon, it should be going to the wildlife refuges and farms.

Unfortunately several fires on the Klamath below Irongate Dam have killed off far too many fish this year.