Little Black Cormorant at Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary
Black cormorants are plenty in Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary. There are different kinds of them and this I think is the Little Black Cormorant, of course a bird expert will know better. I caught it drying its wings and unfortunately I was facing the sun. I got just the silhouette. The boatman then veered the boat in a favorable direction for me to capture it well.
Cormorant feathers become saturated as soon as they hit the water, therefore they are often seen with wings spread out to dry.
Cormorant Trivia
You will be surprised to know they can be made helpful pets. In countries like China, Japan, fishermen use them to catch fish. They tie a line around the throats of cormorants, tight enough to prevent swallowing, and deploy them from small boats. The cormorants catch fish without being able to fully swallow them. Fishermen are able to retrieve the fish simply by forcing open the cormorants’ mouths, apparently engaging the regurgitation reflex. How is that?!
Their feet are set back on the body so they are awkward walkers on land, which is why so many people think they have a broken leg.
A cormorant is a duck. In short they are often referred to as funny looking duck with broken legs.
Group of cormorants is called flight, gulp, sunning, swim.
Snake Like Birds Little Black Cormorant
Cormorant Food – cormorants feed on fish, insects, crustaceans and amphibians. They usually feed in shallow water (less than 8m deep) within 5km of shore. It is exciting to watch them catch prey by diving underwater to chase it, too fast to capture in camera unless you are alert.
Nice pictures Indrani ! Ranaganithittu is an amazing place. Poor cormorants though..I thought that was pretty cruel 🙁
Awesome clicks! Thank you for sharing the moments with us… we are virtually visiting a part of what you have watched 🙂 TC! Keep smiling 🙂
The second one i more eye catching!
What a beautiful bird, posing so nicely for you.
Wonderful shot of the cormorant.
great pics in silhouettes… and yes the method seems a bit cruel… perhaps it only looks so apparently .
I never saw such a black one ! Nice capture !
Very nice serie!
Lovely pics Indrani. You've reminded me of my trip 🙂
Amazing captures as always! 🙂
Wonderful clicks Indrani..I like the silhouetted one more…. 🙂
Very nice clicks Indrani. I have been to this sanctuary and seen them.
Beautiful captures. Greetings from Romania.
Indrani great shot,in Poland there is a lot of cormorants.
Enjoy the weekend 🙂
Wonderfully captured, Indrani:)
Wonderful photos Indrani. I like the silhouette. A very interesting post, thank you.
So beautiful birds and pics
i did see a documentary about birds helping fishermen, i can't remember what type of bird it was.
What beautiful shots!
The method employed in places like China and Japan to catch fish using these birds seems a bit cruel.
Good pictures
Great shots.. both of them. Cormorants are hated by fishermen around here because of their hunting skills. They can clear a lake of fish in no time.
I like it when it opens his wings.
It's a graceful bird but I wouldn't want to eat a fish it had just thrown back up!
Fishermen have some nasty ideas.
Both the pictures emphasis beauty at its own! I have seen videos of cormorants aid fishermen on caching fish on NGC; nicely traveling into the river by sitting on the edge of boats was simply amazing sight.
they are neat birds.
Hope the birds are not hurt in this process of fishing..It's a great idea though…I actually liked the silhouette pic from photography stand point…but ya, the clarity of the actual bird is in the second one…The boatman was kind enough to get you there….
Wonderful captures as always and a beautiful bird!! Interesting to read about them being used as "fishermen"!! Have a lovely weekend, Indrani!!