Some facts about cormorants

• The double-crested cormorant is a glossy black goose-sized bird with webbed feet. Its bill is hooked at the tip and it has an orange pouch underneath.
• The cormorant's feathers lack oil for waterproofing, which enables it to swim underwater, propelled by its webbed feet. Because its feathers get wet, cormorants are frequently seen sunning on rocks with their wings outspread.
• Cormorants can dive up to 40 feet underwater. Chinese fishermen use them as a tool to help catch fish.
• Cormorants spend about 60 minutes a day fishing. An average cormorant will capture about five fish an hour. Their feeding range is about 25 miles.
• Cormorants are opportunistic feeders; they eat the most readily available species.# Cormorants live an average of 15 years.
• Female cormorants usually lay three to four eggs per clutch, but can lay as many as seven. They fledge two to three chicks per clutch.
• Their nests are made of twigs and whatever flotsam or debris they can find. They are 2- to 3-feet wide.
• The North America double-crested cormorant population is estimated at between 1 million and 2 million. About 70 percent are still located in their native territory, the prairie lakes of Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. About 12 percent are located in the Great Lakes.
• The double-crested cormorant has been found breeding now in 40 states, all 10 Canadian provinces, Mexico, Cuba and the Bahamas.