Why Are Government Agencies Killing Double-Crested Cormorants?
An increasingly nasty killing campaign, not unlike a war, is currently being waged in North America against a somewhat prehistoric-looking bird named the Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus). This cormorant is a fairly large bird, about 33 inches long, with black plumage, webbed feet, an orange-yellow throat pouch, and two short crest-like areas on the feathered head when in breeding plumage.[1]The cormorant’s food consists largely of fish — occasionally including some species sought by anglers. The Double-crested Cormorant is the most widely distributed of several cormorant species breeding in North America. The species is expanding breeding activities into some new locations — sometimes at places where other birds such as Great Blue Herons (Ardea herodius), Great Egrets (Ardea alba) and Black-crowned Night Herons (Nycticorax nycticorax) already are breeding, thereby perhaps providing some degree of competition for potential nest sites and food. Much research remains to be
