I am
sure that there really were 172 or 173 Little Black
Cormorants at the yacht club, but they’re nowhere to
be seen now. In recent weeks I have noticed a few
flying flocks at the extremes of the day, including
one large one (could be 100 plus), but they seem to
be transient. The main water body of LBG doesn’t
have much bird life at all at the moment - the
usual wood ducks, a few darters including nests on
the Molonglo, and a few seagulls (again with nests
in the 2 more derelict boats near the yacht club).
In
particular I haven’t seen any cormorant nests of any
species. Perhaps the large flocks are wandering
juveniles. If they are adults and you get a good
view you should be able to see that striking blue
eye. However I would expect the adults to be away
breeding where they have found temporarily suitable
fishy conditions. It may be that breeding corms
have recourse to LBG and the Molonglo only in
droughty times and the breeding here in recent years
was a cyclical event rather than an increasing
trend.
A couple of days ago I note 172-
possibly 173- Little Black Cormorant sitting on a
wall at the Canberra Yacht Club, (Geoffrey, the mind
boggles on what you are going to come up with!). On
a more serious note, so far this year there has been
no breeding by Little Blacks at either Molonglo
Reach or at the entrance to Sullivans Creek.
If anyone happens to find them
breeding on any of the urban lakes could you please
let me know.
Chris
