Why Thousands of Cormorants Gather in Xinlin Bay Expo Park?
Taiwan Strait Daily, March 15th report, according to the Xiamen Evening News. In recent days, thousands of cormorants have frequently appeared in the Xinlin Bay Expo Park, with their flying and feeding figures photographed by passersby. During the day, cormorants fly to nearby seas to forage, and when they fly in groups, the sky is black and oppressive. At night, they return to the Expo Park’s ecological island to rest.
The reporter learned from the Expo Park. In late October last year, there were signs of cormorant activity in the Expo Park’s ecological island area. Compared to the previous year, the cormorants arrived at the ecological island about ten days later, which may be caused by two reasons: the living area of the cormorants in the previous year had a later cooling time; and the cormorants on their way from the north to Xiamen had abundant food along the way, so they were delayed a bit.
The Expo Park’s ecological island area consists of multiple small islands. Because there is no land access, the human interference factor is small, which becomes a ‘safe haven’ for timid cormorants. Here, you can also see White egrets, White egrets and Little egrets, which can coexist peacefully with the cormorants.
From previous years’ observations, why can we still see so many cormorants in mid-March to mid-April? Mr. Ling Feihe, a senior member of the City Birdwatching Association, explained that cormorants are group travelers. They now gather in large numbers, just like humans ‘forming a team’. Once they are all together, they will fly back together. From this year’s observations, more than 90% of the cormorants in the city are in Xinlin Bay and the Expo Park.
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Bird champion of diving
Cormorants are large waterbirds, with a body length of 72cm-87cm and a weight greater than 2kg. They are all black, with a purple-green sheen on their head and neck, copper-colored sheen on their shoulders and wings, yellow-green sheen on their hooked beak and throat pouch, and white below the eyes. During the breeding period, they have red spots on their faces. They usually live in groups on water-side rocks or in the water, standing in a vertical posture.
Cormorants are excellent at catching fish, quickly swimming and using their hooked beaks to catch fish. They have been domesticated by people since ancient times to catch fish. In Yunnan, Guangxi and Hunan, people still raise cormorants to catch fish. They can dive up to 19 meters and can stay underwater for up to 70 seconds, which is a bird champion of diving.
