[98] BIRDSOFOREGON 



BRANDT'S CORMORANT (Plates 14 and 15) is one of the common permanent 

 residents of the Oregon coast and winters regularly on the open ocean 

 about the breeding rocks, bays, and inlets, taking refuge in the latter in 

 stormy periods, in common with many of the pelagic waterfowl. Very 

 little smaller than the huge Farallon Cormorant, it may readily be dis- 

 tinguished as it has a dark-colored bill and a blue or black pouch instead 

 of a yellow or orange one. It has the same slow, clumsy, but strongly 

 sustained flight as its larger relative. Despite its present abundance, it 

 was evidently overlooked by early ornithologists, as no one actually 

 recorded it until Finley (1902.) first visited Three Arch Rocks and began 

 to write about the great Oregon bird colonies. It is most abundant in 

 Clatsop, Tillamook, and Lincoln Counties, where the rocky islands or 

 precipitous headlands furnish it with the nesting sites it prefers (Plates 

 14 and 15). 



This cormorant is one of the birds that one may expect to see on any 

 trip to the rocky sections of the Oregon coast at any season of the year. 

 Once at Depoe Bay, Gabrielson had a unique opportunity to watch one 

 fishing. From the float at the landing where he was sitting, little schools 

 of a small anchovy type of fish appeared to be moving through the water 

 much as swarms of gnats travel in the air. A Brandt's Cormorant appear- 

 ing on the scene put on an interesting performance. Locating one of these 

 schools of fish by the broken surface of the water, the bird dove some 

 distance away and came up through the swarm of fish, driving them to 

 the surface. To the observer on the dock, he appeared first far below the 

 fish as a formless black shadow, then rapidly assumed size and form as he 

 swiftly glided toward the surface. The fish in panicky confusion bolted 

 to the surface making the water fairly boil with their struggles. The 

 dark fisherman, darting up from below, almost invariably succeeded in 

 catching two or three fish before they scattered and regained the depths. 

 The successful catcher crushed its prey in its bill sometimes dropping 

 one or two fish in the water swallowed the fish head first, and then, 

 locating another swarm, repeated the performance. Several times, when 

 it was not possible for the observer to locate any fish from the surface, 

 the cormorant dove and reappeared again from far below with a swarm 

 of fish ahead of him. This was repeated until the bird could not eat 

 another fish, when he hauled out on the rocks and spread himself out in 

 the sunshine for his feathers to dry. During the performance the wings 

 were not used at all under the water, the motive power being supplied 

 solely by the huge feet and legs. This point was carefully noted because 

 of Gabrielson 's special interest in the method of progression of various 

 kinds of diving birds while under the water. 



Cormorants of all kinds on the Oregon coast are subjected generally to 

 a continual persecution on the part of sportsmen and commercial fishermen 

 who assert that the birds are terrific destroyers of commercial and game 



