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Cormorant issues need your attention now, not later
doedeeus 
 		    01/27/2006 14:32
Alewives
Posts: 6
 

This thread discusses the Content article: Cormorant issues need your attention now, not later

The Cormorant issue is getting bad all over..
So I pose a question to those in the know..
do Cormorants have natural predators, like
raccoon's,--Cats,---dogs that can be introduced
into the nesting area's each year ??
Or does Big Brother Goverment prohibit that
also...

jbt
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Re:Cormorant issues need your attention now, not later
t3pt6k 
 		  Port: Grand Haven, MI   01/27/2006 19:06
Admin
Posts: 2447
 

well it's a not so funny, funny story ... as with all ground nesting birds cormorants do have natural predators such as racoons. The USFWS (US Fish and Wildlife Service) is doing some cormorant control on a 7 year plan for the Great Lakes basin, one of the initiatives was to do a bird kill and egg oiling operation in the Les Cheneaux islands.

It is suspected that a fisherman trying to help erridicate the cormorants on his own released some racoons on the island prior to the USFWS operation. Well it turns out cormorants aren't as dumb as they look, and when they noticed the predators they all moved to another nesting location. Unfortunately this had a negative impact on the control program because the cormorants moved off, the person that released the racoons didn't realize that the birds hadn't nested yet, and unfortunately ruined a control plan.

So yes they have predators, but they are pretty smart about where they build their nests, and any help from us probably doesn't actually help. Unitl they open cormorants up to hunting there is really nothing we can do but continue to pressure our legislators to continue to call for cormorant control. There is information on the USFWS site, the link is below.

http://www.fws.gov/migratorybirds/issues/cormorant/cormorant.html
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Re:Cormorant issues need your attention now, not later
gg270 
 		    01/28/2006 10:59
Brookie
Posts: 16
 

You got it right Greg, Cormorants are very smart birds. When people start shooting with shotguns, it's not long before needing to use 22's and then shooting becomes useless because they then learn to stay away from boats altogether..

The Flint Steelheaders has hooked up with the USDA-Wildlife Services and we are working as a funnel to get the money to that Division where it goes strictly to Cormorant control.

Pete Butchko from the USDA-Wildlife Services will be giving a seminar on Cormorant Control at our Sprin Show On March 4th at 12:00pm.

Pete is the guy who has been working on this for the past several years so anything you needed to know on Cormorants, he's the guy to ask.

Anyone who thinks they are not affected by this bird better wake up....Lake Michigan is the new target zone for these birds so people need to get educated on this asap
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Re:Cormorant issues need your attention now, not later
t3pt6k 
 		  Port: Grand Haven, MI   01/28/2006 19:55
Admin
Posts: 2447
 

You can check out the USDA site at:

http://www.usda.gov/

and from there do searches on cormorants or cormorants michigan and get a listing of all of the programs that the USDA Wildlife Services has going.
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