September 23rd, 2014

We had a couple of double-crested cormorants drying their wings here at Laurel Creek yesterday. Double crested cormorant populations are rising quite quickly in Ontario. Their numbers in North America were decimated by hunting and the pesticide DDT. DDT was sprayed around a lot in the 1950’s and 1960’s, and the pesticide made its way into fish, which were then eaten by cormorants. A side effect of DDT consumption was to make many birds’ egg shells very thin, so that they would break before the chicks were ready to be born.

Some people don’t like cormorants because they think they eat too many fish out of lakes. They also nest in colonies in trees, often killing the trees with all their poop. Overall though, I think their presence around here is a good sign…