Damn cormorants!

[trigger7mm]

Stopped in at Bud Miller Park in Lacombe today, mostly to see the worlds biggest 5 of diamonds. The trout pond had a several cormorants in it, and while I spent about 5 minutes there, I watched them catch a consume 4 trout. The fish those buggers were eating were nice sized too. I’d love to shoot every one of those flying disasters when they are sitting on any stocked pond. Mother Nature must have had one hell of a hangover the day she came up with those things!

[fordtruckin]

Originally Posted by trigger7mm

Stopped in at Bud Miller Park in Lacombe today, mostly to see the worlds biggest 5 of diamonds. The trout pond had a several cormorants in it, and while I spent about 5 minutes there, I watched them catch a consume 4 trout. The fish those buggers were eating were nice sized too. I’d love to shoot every one of those flying disasters when they are sitting on any stocked pond. Mother Nature must have had one hell of a hangover the day she came up with those things!

And what would Mother Nature do to the person who stocked that pond? Another example of human interference with nature.

[PerchBuster]

They are a fish eating bird. Not unlike, Herons, Bald Eagles, Pelicans, Osprey, Gulls, Penguins and many many more. That’s what they do. They all eat their fair share I am sure. Main difference being that the Cormorant has a very effective ability to dive and swim under water in pursuit of their prey like some of the others mentioned and have adapted that ability to even be effective in a small pond with a captive audience. They are a gifted predator albeit disruptive to ecosystems in great numbers. Just glad it was your Trout and not my Perch 😁although we all paid for those Trout since our fisheries resources were spent putting them in there, sure wish those resources would be used to rehabilitate all the hundreds of lakes the ministry claims are now collapsed of populations of Walleye and Pike and now only C&R instead, even though you can go to them and catch shed loads of Walleye there, but I digress ......

[Crankbait]

Originally Posted by fordtruckin

And what would Mother Nature do to the person who stocked that pond? Another example of human interference with nature.

Bravo!!!

I think your post could be applied to a myriad of world conundrums.

Personally, I like cormorants especially when they do those ultrafast flyby's about 3 inches above the water.

Anyways, gotta run and move my baby lambs right below that nest with the huge Golden Eagle.

[Mr Flyguy]

Cormorants are useful in indicating where fish are active. For example, on a guided trip for striped bass in the San Joaquin river delta their activity at an old pier led us to some nice action with Clousers.

[Zip-in-Z]

These guys can do a number on any trout pond, too! They're just prettier to look at.

D.

[Fishwhere]

You probably wont gwt a lot of supporters with you....

[DaGe]

Isn't it better to have them on a stocked pond rather than a natural fishery?

[SamSteele]

Watched a video of a Chinese fisherman that used cormorants with a rope tied around their necks just tight enough so they couldn’t swallow the fish. Had a boat full of these birds and drove around letting them dive down and catch fish, then pulled them out of their throats since they couldn’t swallow them.

[trigger7mm]

Originally Posted by DaGe

Isn't it better to have them on a stocked pond rather than a natural fishery?

They’re a winged rat no matter where they are. Their nesting colonies make a mess of the area too. For anybody who likes them, you can have them!

[Talking moose]

Originally Posted by trigger7mm

They’re a winged rat no matter where they are. Their nesting colonies make a mess of the area too. For anybody who likes them, you can have them!

X2. Nasty dirty birds.

[thumper]

In Ontario, cormorants are causing so much damage that the province is trying to remove their 'protected migratory bird' status, and open a spring hunting season on them - 50 birds/day! "As it is written, the Ford government's plan would allow hunters to kill as many as 50 cormorants per day."

I was just in Burlington ON, along the Lake Ontario shoreline, and it's just constant skeins of cormorants, thousands of birds, flying just off-shore. They far outnumber every other bird there.

[Drewski Canuck]

I give our Bios their due on this issue.

When LLB was being stocked, SRD had a permit to shoot cormorants and oil the eggs in the Provincial park.

They set up on an island with dead trees in a blind with .22 shorts and killed over 4 K each year for 3 years.

Between the oiling of eggs and the cull, LLB had a fighting chance.

That was one time I was proud of their foresight.

Now the key is to keep Cormorant numbers at bay by continuing the program. They are very very fertile birds.

Drewski

[SamSteele]

Honest question. What kept them in check prior to modern game management?

[Drewski Canuck]

Honest Answer: DDT!!!

Yes, a lot of apex species took a big hit in the 60's and 70's from the echo effect of DDT. Birds especially as the shell of the egg was so thin it simple collapsed. (See "Silent Spring" for the full story)

These birds where few and far between in Alberta up to the 2000's.

A lot of birds like Peregrine Falcons re making a come back now that the chemicals used in agriculture in the past are finally breaking down.

Drewski

[huntsfurfish]

ddt

[Piker]

The above picture by Zip are loons not comerants

[crownb]

Originally Posted by Piker

The above picture by Zip are loons not comerants

Umm he knows that, read his post.

[SamSteele]

Originally Posted by Drewski Canuck

Honest Answer: DDT!!!



Yes, a lot of apex species took a big hit in the 60's and 70's from the echo effect of DDT. Birds especially as the shell of the egg was so thin it simple collapsed. (See "Silent Spring" for the full story)



These birds where few and far between in Alberta up to the 2000's.



A lot of birds like Peregrine Falcons re making a come back now that the chemicals used in agriculture in the past are finally breaking down.



Drewski

And what was before that? I guess I’m wondering what their natural predators are.

[Drewski Canuck]

Well

since you asked, in the winter months down south, Gators.

LLB put a Styrofoam gator in its trout pond a number of years back. It kept the Cormorants at bay.

As to what works up here, I do not know.

Drewski

[Savage Bacon]

Not to sidetrack but those darn loons get on my nerves (birds not people) one small lake I used to fish, they see when you have a fish on. Then they disappear and your little rainbow goes missing.

[mikevv]

The pond at Lacombe has a fake gator in it on the north side about 10 meters from shore, but I take it that it's not working to good.

[DaGe]

Originally Posted by Talking moose

X2. Nasty dirty birds.

Moose **** on their own legs.....and you like them so much to tie them to your online identity. Therefore, nastiness and dirtiness is not a strong criteria for you liking/disliking something. Which means there is another reason you/other people don't like them. Don't be a coward and say why you really dislike them instead of hiding behind calling them "dirty." Most animals are dirty and nasty, guys.......

[Crankbait]

Originally Posted by Piker

The above picture by Zip are loons not comerants

he knows that, and the title of your post is a different spelling in your post, which are both wrong spelling.

[Crankbait]

Originally Posted by thumper

In Ontario, cormorants are causing so much damage that the province is trying to remove their 'protected migratory bird' status, and open a spring hunting season on them - 50 birds/day! "As it is written, the Ford government's plan would allow hunters to kill as many as 50 cormorants per day."

I was just in Burlington ON, along the Lake Ontario shoreline, and it's just constant skeins of cormorants, thousands of birds, flying just off-shore. They far outnumber every other bird there.

I suspect they might be pretty tasty to boot,, trout fed fowl must taste better than what ducks and geese shovel up.

[Crankbait]

Originally Posted by trigger7mm

They’re a winged rat no matter where they are. Their nesting colonies make a mess of the area too. For anybody who likes them, you can have them!

They have no manners, no manners whatsoever. I once came upon a huge pile of bear scat right in the middle of a trail, what a classless bear.

[Battle Rat]

Its not the fact that they eat fish the problem is that their numbers have sky rocketed over the last 30 years, that is the problem.
Ive heard that they are allergic to lead.

[Drewski Canuck]

Depending if they are feeding young, 1- 2 pd a day is easy, and they can dive and chase well down to 30 FOW. For alot of Alberta Lakes, that is clear to the bottom.

As for their allergy to lead, I do know that some members of a Fish and Game Association near Salters Lake had a nuisance wildlife permit for Cormorants on Salters the last few years.

I don't know if the short little grey haired fellow in the very old Sportspal canoe renewed it this year.

He was pretty effective at removing problems birds there though, according to
what he told me.

Drewski

[pipco]

Cormorants will elimate trout much quicker and with more efficiency than loons, herons or osprey.

They were an issue years ago in Lakeland ( now Lac La biche ) county as Drewski Canuck mentioned. They are an issue again. There and in other regions.

Lets hope the government steps in and starts to reduce their numbers.

The collapsed or depleted fisheries don't need these highly efficient predators along, with drought, habitat loss and other factors putting further pressure on Alberta's lakes and other water bodies.

Take a moment or two and write the new minister of Environment and Parks.

Jason Nixon

https://www.alberta.ca/environment-and-parks.aspx


Maybe a petition could be started and sent to his office?

Stan

[Mumbles]

Guys these birds have been around forever & wildlife have high and low cycles in their populations. These birds have more right to any of these fish than any of us greedy Albertans have, we’l just have to learn to live with them.
Kind of remind me of the idiots in BC that think Pikeminnow are invasive and kill all their trout and salmon off by eating eggs, even though they’ve been around since the ice ages.