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Mississippi National River and Recreation Area
Double-Crested Cormorant
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Double-crested cormorants are large, dark-colored birds that make their living diving beneath the surface of the water and pursuing fish, their favorite quarry. While clumsy-looking on land or when on favorite perches, cormorants are both agile and swift in the water.
While feathers are waterproof simply due to their physical structure, the cormorant’s feathers are “wettable,” and quickly become water-logged, reducing the bird’s buoyancy and increasing its swimming efficiency. In addition, the bones of cormorants, unlike most other birds, are dense and heavy.
While both adaptations help the bird pursue its swift underwater prey, heavy bones and water-logged feathers makes flight more difficult. Cormorants are often seen holding their wings spread to facilitate drying (not warming as in other birds) and when taking off must often “patter” across the surface of the water to build up sufficient flying speed before taking to the air.
Fascinating Facts
Flocks often fly in long lines or in loose “V” shaped flocks.
The feathered tufts on its head for which it is named are difficult to discern.
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Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus)
Key ID Features: Large, black bird often perched in dead trees or on riverside driftwood. May fly in loose “V” shaped flocks.
Present in Park: Late March through October. Look for these birds in the Spring Lake Park Preserve (near Hastings, MN) or near the Stone Arch Bridge in Minneapolis.
Habitat: Large rivers, wetlands, and lakes. Nests are clumsy, stick affairs located in trees. Nests in colonies, often with other species.
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![Coon Rapids Dam Coon Rapids Dam](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20090511065733im_/http://www.nps.gov/mwr/customcf/apps/CMS_HandF/Pictures/MISS_crd.jpg) |
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Did You Know?
Over 600 men worked around the clock using hand tools, horses and coal powered shovels to build the original Coon Rapids Dam in 1913. The dam was rebuilt between 1995 and 1997.
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Last Updated: March 19, 2009 at 10:02 EST |