Cormorants or Shags

One of the most fulfilling aspects of land ownership is the continual challenge to develop and improve. Our small cattle farm on the edge of sandveld that merged with the Kalahari semi-desert proper had on it two little dams. Built on the cheap with wheelbarrow, pick and shovel, these two little dams filled quickly and at the end of the rainy season, dried up after a few months, leaving a water source problem for the free-ranging beef cattle.



In response to this, the spillway of the bigger dam was raised by a good four feet – all was now ready for the onset of the following rainy season. When the first rains came, they fell first in large, stinging droplets that pocked the dust on the hard, dry ground, then broke roaring into a solid, drenching downpour. When it was over, we rushed down to the dam, half-wondering whether our handiwork had been swept away, but there it was, solid, complacently defiant as the spruit rushed headlong against it, checked, swirling and spreading slowly over more than double the area it had covered before. A new era had dawned on our little patch of Bushveld that would change its nature for the better to the advantage of generations to come.



An obvious immediate effect of the expanded water surface was that the tall mopani trees, previously well clear of the waters edge, now stood well into the dam, their leafy branches incongruous and a little forlorn. Those branches would never be leafy again. By the end of the season, the mopani trees, and all the little drowned bushes were dead.



The trees, however, did not fall over. Their deep roots anchored them firmly down into the subsoil far below the muddy floor of the dam. The mopani lost their leaves and died, but remained standing, stark, gaunt and proud, useful perching places for lone fish-eagles, lesser hawks, shrikes, sinuous white egrets, and cormorants.



Cormorants or Shags are not well known for their beautiful plumage, sweet song or mating dance. They have no particularly alluring feature to be remarked upon. They have a long hook-tipped bill, patches of bare skin on their face and a small throat pouch known as a gular sac. They are dark in colour, from a distance – black - and they breed on land in both hemispheres. This is the Cormorant Phalacrocorax Carbo, also called the Great Cormorant or the Great Black Cormorant or the Black Shag. They grow up to 40” long and have a distinguishing white patch on their cheeks.



All Cormorants or Shags are fish eaters and will also eat eels, water snakes and water molluscs of various kinds. They have been regarded as being in competition with man over food and as a result were not a welcome visitor to an area where fishing was an occupation. Their numbers dwindled through culling, but are no longer in decline.



To prepare for their dive, they often do a little half-jump before diving to depths up to 50 yards. Their longest dive is about 30 seconds, not really enough time to lie in wait and plan a surprise attack on unsuspecting fish. They are very good underwater swimmers though. Attributes which aid them in this is that they close their external nostrils when underwater and their plumage traps little air, especially their large contoured feathers. This greatly reduces their buoyancy, helping them to keep submerged. They may have gland secretions too to help keep their feathers waterproofed.



They can be seen with their wings outstretched seemingly sunning themselves after their fishing exploits. At these times their throat pouch pants rapidly. This internal system works like air- conditioning. The food and especially the water they take in is used up in the cooling process. If the water is salty, trickles of salt can be seen coming down from the end of their bill.



It is however the slightly smaller Japanese cormorant P.Capillatus which has been trained to aid the fishermen. The birds follow the boatman up and down as he works his fishing spot, diving for fish. When they come up he calls them to the boat and squeezes their throat. The fish they've caught lies within a pouch, a little like the pelican's, but much smaller. The fish is popped out of the pouch and the bird goes back to its diving activities. The birds are rewarded when they catch a large fish. The reward is a much smaller one, from the catch. (search YouTube to see it in action)