[obol] "Chinese" Cormorant

[Mike Patterson]

The Double-crested Cormorant is native to North America, but there
is a lot of mis-information out there, most of it associated with
the anti-piscivore crowd who believe any species that competes with
us for fish is bad.

There is a "Chinese" Cormorant (_Phalacorax carbo sinensis_) which
is a subspecies of Great Cormorant and turns up in early literature 
as Chinese Cormorant.  

Then there are cormorants trained by the Chinese (and other Asian 
cultures) to fetch fish.  It's very likely that, given California's
rich history with Chinese immigrants, associations have been made
that conflate the immigration of the Chinese and the occurance of
cormorants. 

And here's a cormorant fisherman from Google:
http://flickr.com/photos/wayne_t/894921836/

Barbara & John Woodhouse wrote:
> 
> Two days ago, during a radio discussion on Public Broadcasting, one
> of the speakers referred to the possibility of predation of salmon on
> the Sacramento River in CA by a number of agents. In the list he
> gave, he mentioned the "Chinese Cormorant". What is this bird that he
> referred to? I have looked in the fattest books on birds that I have
> and am unable to find reference to it. My interest was aroused
> because I had heard the name used about 10 years ago. At that time
> the speaker told me that the Double-crested Cormorant was a Chinese
> Cormorant, introduced to these waters, .... At that time I thought
> the idea a bit far-fetched and dismissed it. Is there an explanation
> for this name?
> 
> No, this is not April 1; close, but not!
> 
> John Woodhouse
> Tillamook
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-- 
Mike Patterson               
Astoria, OR                    
celata at pacifier.com  
 
When bad photos happen to good birds
http://www.surfbirds.com/blogs/mbalame/archives/2008/03/photo20080313.html