Catching a Cormorant

[PortaPerch]

As my neighbor and I were doing our morning hike and pushups, this morning on the Seal Beach pier, we came upon an older man who had just reeled in a Cormorant. I grabbed it just behind its head, as onlookers said, "Watch out, it will bite."

"I have parrots" I said, "So I know bites." I tried to back the hook out of his mouth but it just wouldn't go, and his mouth flesh was really tough. We ended up cutting the hook shank. Hopefully, it will heal with the short stub of hook in there, or it will work its way out.

When I let it go, it didn't fly away, and then I noticed another hook in its foot. We cut the hook near the eye, and I was able to push the hook on through and out. It still didn't fly away, so I took pix, which I will post later. We went on our way. The fisherman thanked me. He hadn't known what to do.

Later, it occurred to me we should have put it in a sack and taken it to the animal rescue ten miles down the coast in HB.

PP

 

[IcyWolf]

Poor thing! We just rescued a cormorant about two weeks ago too. Someone INTENTIONALLY hit him with a boat! Luckily our friend scooped him out of the water and brought him back to the main land, they were in the waters right in front of three mile island, there's a little island out there we go to all the time. We went and picked him up and took him to the wild bird refuge, the man told us he would call and let us know if he made it or not but we have yet to hear from him. He said that some fisherman will intentionally kill them because they eat fish, it's their way of "taking out the competition!". It just makes me sick. The birds deserve to be there more than the fisherman do and, really, they don't eat big fish, the size of the fish they eat aren't what the fisherman want to be catching anyway!

 

[henpecked]

Cormorants have to dry their wings before they can fly.that's why you see them setting in the sun with their wings spread. They don't have the oil on their feathers that makes them "waterproof" so that they can swim under water to catch fish. Yes cormorants have become an issue in some places because they eat so many of the fish,here on the east coast we have flocks of 100s of thousands. I'm not condoning killing them but in some areas they are a nuisance.