I got into it with a bird watcher the other day when I made the stupid mistake of voicing my opinion of the beautiful blah blah breasted freshwater deep diving eatus maximus anythingus cormorant flock that he was watching systematically herding my DFG funds into a cove and devouring before our faces!
I'm not a violent person but felt like slapping some sense into this narrow minded------but I respected his love for nature (except fish )and kept my mouth shut. What ignorance by some not to even consider what is happening at our local ponds.

Does anyone know how much food a single cormorant must eat a day just to maintain his weight? I do. You would get sick. I don't see them leaving our area so they must be eating something. And it's not just trout like this bird hugger said.

Anyone else out there have any comments about these majestic birds?

I posted this for a fun and learning experience, so take it easy. Like the bird hugger told me " The birds have a right to be here too!" BURGIE

BURGIE

My wife and I have become quite the birding enthusiasts as we have some great birds visiting the backyard. When we go trail running, we always are taking note of the birds we see. However, I HATE commorants. They are the most worthless, devouring pigs of the bird world. I guess they fulfill a role somehow--sometimes too much, like after a trout stocking.


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i have seen them down a 3lb trout no problem at skinner. at least half of the trout go to them at every stock!

Ya,these flying rats are becoming or have already become a larger threat to fish populations than poachers,JMO.I believe(from what i've heard)that they are protected because they are a migaratory(sp?)bird,i don't see them migrating anywhere.They found a nice abundant food source and have decided to stick around.That's the way it seems anyway,and now more and more i'm seeing pelicans joining in with the slaughter,and those freakin' things must have to eat twice as much as the cormo-rats.

Hopefully with the petitions and mass complaints the DFG will take a serious look at this and do something!!

I think they're protected because they're endangered. But, endagered my arse. Every lake I go to, there are literally dozens of them, diving and dining. They've ruined the lakes that I live near to, Santa Fe and Peck. They don't just eat trout, but bluegill and juvenille bass. Something's gotta be done about these pests.

They aren't endangered, but they are protected under the Federal Migratory Waterfowl Act. This was passed in the early 70's in response to many waterfowl nearly going extinct due to DDT. The enviros go nuts whenever talk about modifying or repealing it crops up.

You should have told the bird watcher that they eat kangeroo rats. No kidding. I've witnessed it before.
NoTrollMotor

OK, I see alot of birds out there but I have not seen any diving and eating fish.
I know just from reading articles in magazines and WON that these birds are a real problem in some areas and agree something needs to be done about them. Can someone give a discription or better yet post a photo of them.
Thanks,
Brad

--<*(((><

These bad little birds eat everything and you'll know when you see them.They hunt in packs and are known to eat small children...well maybe not but they need as much bad PR as we can give them ;-)

heres a link......

http://www.montereybay.com/creagrus/cormorants.html

Hey Brad, I don't know exactly where you live, or where you fish, but I am sure it's somewhere in the continental U.S.- JUST KIDDING!!

The birds that blitzkreige ( I mean frequent ) our areas are dark brown to an almost black in color. They have long skinny necks conected to a razor sharp beak with a 90 degree hook at the end. Imagine an eagles beak about 2 to 3 inches longer. The beak is a mix of orange and yellow in color. Beautiful! Their wings are long and narrow somewhat like that of an albatross. Their body is short and powerfull, ( like a PIT BULL ). Add that together with some huge webbed feet that look like the Voit duck feet we used to boogie board with back before the GREAT KELP FIRE, (just kiddding again.) AND NOW YOU KNOW HOW THEY LOOK!!!!

It's a combination of the EAGLE (the baddest bird alive). The ALBATROSS (so much endurance it hardly ever has to land during its life time). The PITBULL ( need I say more? ). The STEALTH BOMBER (silent, fast and accurate). With the constant never quenching verocious appetite of a Carcharodan Carcharias (WHITE SHARK). Sprinkle in the I.R.S. somewhere because I pay for what they eat without getting much in return. Oh yeah, I almost forgot, NAVY SEALS- because brother these birds can hold their breath for God knows how long, and water temp doesn't seem to affect them at all!!!
You have a hard time seeing them because they ride low in the water like a TRITON SUB. Their like DEMONS, you only see them when they want to be seen!

Punch up AUDUBON SOCIETY on the Internet. I bet you can find a picture of one. Good Fishing, and I hope you guys had as much fun reading this as I did posting it. Man, I need to go fishing!!!!

BURGIE

I think they are pretty.......pretty good to eat

From what I know back east they are a huge problem. cormorants can eat up to 3 lbs of fish per day, with rafts of several hundred to thousands they can easily wipe out small ponds, hatcheries. They are even talking about having States manage the cormorants. States were the cormorants population has exploded they may even open up a hunting season on them.

True story no BS. i saw this documentary on KCET and it was in China where the fishermen used those pesky birds to do their fishing for them!!!! it was incredible, they would tie a rope of somesort around their necks so the bird wouldnt swallow the fish and they tied leashes to the birds and let them dive for the fish and when they surfaced would cough up the fish. Unreal!! i guess they raised those things in that little fishing town for that purpose. But w/ all the oohs and ahhs aside i HATE those birds myself, they are nothing but problems, and i do agree w/ the previous post, they probably were migrating somewhere but since they found all these little ponds and lakes to easily feed, they will never leave. Something really needs to be dont about those birds. DFG really needs to realize that all that money thats going into trout plants is basically being used to feed those pesky birds.

Tsunami

The DFG would like to reduce the population but the Feds are in the way. Almost all but the most head-in-the-sand enviro realize that cormorants are becoming a huge problem. It is true that the Feds are considering letting states do some control "WITH FEDERAL OVERSIGHT". This means that if a state would like to shoo away a cormorant, much less KILL it, they will need to get federal approval. Considering the Federal government's track record on acting quickly and reasonably, I'm not encouraged.

If they do manage to open them to hunting, I'm buying a shotgun. That would be so cool }(

NoTrollMotor

COOMI HUNTS! I CAN DIG IT! These BASSTURDS have to be stoped!! How long can we sit hear and watch em devestate the population of our gamefish! If I can stand there and watch em eat 10 or 15 of these DFG planters I cant even imagin how many juvi basslings they could eat in a day!!With the spawn comin up and everything, Its got to put a major dent in the bass population..not to mention the bluegill,threadfin, kangaroo rats :) (ahhaa!) SOMEBODYS got to put there foot down quick or there wont be any thing left of our lakes/rivers/ponds/oceans!!THEY are every where by the hundreds! And THAT WE HAVE TO sit and watch these birds eat up thousands and thousands of dollars of fish we pay for and keep funding is totally insain!!!AND IF the dfg dosent like em and wants em gone whos goin to come get ya for poachin comorants!,the feds! :) (ha!) KEEP EM BENT!
PHISHintR

I knew it was getting bad when I once had trout that I was fighting about 1ft from shore and a comorant came from the depths and took a swipe at it! Gave me quite a surprise.
There is usually a DFG booth at the Fred Hall Show, if I see it this weekend I'll have to stop by and mention it to them, see what there view is on the situation...

KILL EM ALL!!!!!!!!!!!Put em on the damn endangerd list ..I have seen the biggest cormarants at willow beach(lk mohave Az).Trout plants all year round every week,we even watched some big stripers bustin on some trout,a beatiful and heart stopping sight and what do ya know two or three comor-rats swoop in and try to poach the trout from the bigguns i couldent belive it.They were waiting and watching for the boils.Smart little buggars..

whatup chuckeR!

..The way they grow them stripers out that way Im sure they got some SUPER SIZE coomis!! You know what would really be a trip is to see one of those HOGS come up and crash on a coomi!! :) for tryin to steal his lunch!! I heard someone hung a 50 last week at willow!! That is a DOG! And MR.Cole got a couple this week also.Do they dump every week up there or every other?? AND when is thier hatchery goin to get up and goin again?? or have they?... KEEP EM BENT!!

PHISHuntR

Hey whats up PHISHhunter,they dump every friday.Usually,we all know how the dump truck can be a day late,or early.I dont know if the hatchery is back online but it gets planted from Nevada fish and game weekly untill the hatchery is back.Yeah we seen the guy with the ol henry bait out there day and night last time we were out there,he got a couple fish then as well.That 2x4 plug looked pretty hot too..Went to the Hall show today and spent about4 hours listening to most of the speakers Long,Gash,Vella,Folkstead was looking forward to hear AC but he had to leave the show early for.Tight lines bro..