Click photo to see complete painting

Double-crested Cormorant

Status Common in summer, very rare in winter. Breeds. First spring migrants often appear in late March (average 4 April, earliest 26 March); three on the Gaspereau River, Kings County, on 15 March 1948 (L. Duncanson) were exceptional. The peak of migration is mid-April to late May. In summer it is common along the coast and on many rivers and lakes inland. Although the species nests on freshwater lakes in the interior of North America and the majority of our sites are along the Atlantic coast, a small population also breeds in the Minas Basin. The fall migration begins in August, but the main movement takes place between mid-September and late October. A few Double-crested Cormorants have been reported on Christmas Bird Counts in recent years. Some probably overwinter in southern Nova Scotia, but the majority migrates to New England and further south.

Description Length: 74-89 cm. All plumages: Bill similar to that of the Great Cormorant. Adults: Smaller than but similar in appearance to Great Cormorant adults, but lack white hind border to throat pouch and never have white flank patches or conspicuous white anywhere on head or neck; possess only 12 tail feathers; throat pouch is orange. Tufts of narrow and curved black feathers found on its head during breeding season are referred to in the bird's name. Immatures: Similar to those of the other species but markedly smaller, and usually with their necks paler than their bellies.

Breeding Nest: Seaweed and other coarse vegetable matter placed on a rude foundation of small sticks. They nest in colonies, and the sites commonly chosen are of three types: on projecting shelves on the sides of steep cliffs; on level surfaces above the sea wall and preferably near its edge; and in trees 2-10 m or more in height. The trees chosen are usually on islands with low shores without cliffs and quickly die from exposure to the cormorants' excreta. An unusual nesting site was established by a small colony many years ago in the Town of Pictou on the piles of an old causeway, where it may be readily observed from a nearby bridge. Eggs: 3-6, usually 4-5; bluish white with overlay of chalk-like substance. Laying begins in late April or early May. On 21 June 1933 at Cape Split, Kings County, about 40 pairs were nesting on "Squaw Rock." Some nests contained partly incubated eggs and others held half-grown young. According to a 1971 Canadian Wildlife Service survey (Lock and Ross 1973), the Nova Scotian population of Double-crested Cormorants numbered about 4,400 pairs, out of some 10,600 pairs breeding in Atlantic Canada and the Gulf of St. Lawrence. There were about 12,100 pairs in Nova Scotia in 1982 (Milton and Austin-Smith 1983).

Range Breeds locally from southwestern Alaska and the interior of North America to the Gulf of St. Lawrence and southern Newfoundland, south to the southern United States and the Bahamas. Most of the birds in Atlantic Canada breed in the western Gulf of St. Lawrence and on the Atlantic coast of mainland Nova Scotia. Winters from the southern parts of its summer range south to Florida and the Gulf of Mexico.

Remarks Some commercial and sport fishermen consider both species of cormorants to be "bad birds." They are often condemned as killers of trout and other fishes of importance to man, but data acquired from studies of the food habits of the Double crested Cormorant (Lewis 1929, 1957) tend to refute these charges.

Both species of cormorants are protected throughout the year by provincial statute in Nova Scotia.