This incident occurred this-morning on the mid-stream limb referred to in a
separate posting today concerning Azure Kingfishers.
Almost invariably cormorants approach this limb by direct flight to its
peak, which is only a metre or so clear of the water. Today, a Little Pied
Cormorant (LPC) was atop the limb, with his wings hanging out when another
LPC swam up to the base of the log and clambered onto it from the water.
The new arrival made its way up the limb in a sort of sideways shuffle,
until the two birds were within a beak's grasp of each other, when they did
just that. Regrettably, I can't tell you which bird did what, but in an
instant one had its beak clamped around the beak of the other, and they
began to wrestle. Inevitably they both fell into the creek, at which point
we assumed one or other would decamp, but to our surprise they remained
tightly locked together, side by side, beaks still clamped.
With much flapping and head-wrestling they continued in the water as if they
were joined together along their sides, each flapping its free wing
furiously in a sort of three-legged race progression along and around the
creek. This continued for maybe two minutes, which was a very long time for
us and no doubt for them. It was impossible to say that either bird had the
upper hand, as from time to time one wrestled the other under the water,
only for them to emerge still joined. Eventually, after one such effort,
they reappeared separately and took to the air low across the water, one in
hot pursuit of the other.
Again, I regret that I couldn't identify which bird was the aggressor, or
which the 'victor', particularly as only couple of minutes later, one has
returned to the centre of the creek, and is peacefully hanging its wings out
to dry, as if nothing had ever happened.
Yesterday an LPC (maybe one of the two involved in today's fracas) was on
the same limb, when a Darter swam up to the log, and similarly clambered
along it towards the peak. As soon as this much bigger bird thrust his much
bigger beak in the direction of the LPC the cormorant took off, and the
Darter claimed his prize. I'm sure this kind of conflict resolution is much
more common.
This is the first time I have seen cormorants locked in such fierce and
extended combat. It was comparable to the rather severe going over that I
have seen drake Mallards give en masse to females, which I believe does
sometimes cause drowning.
Bill Jolly
"Abberton", Helidon, Qld
ph 07 46976111
fax 07 46976056
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