Great Cormorants at Narooma
Great Cormorants fighting over fish cast-offs
Canon EOS R5 Mk II with a Canon RF 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1 L IS USM Zoom [ISO 640, 254mm, f/8.0 and 1/2500])
The Great Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) is Australia’s largest cormorant species. While this bird has a preference for freshwater, a number of these birds are very much at home at Narooma. The clear waters of Narooma’s Wagonga Inlet normally have plenty of food for these cormorants and they have also learnt to hang around boat ramps for anglers cleaning their catches. These birds will wait until people are at the cleaning tables located near the boat ramps before they start arriving. Once the cormorants observe people cleaning fish they start congregating, along with other birds, stingrays and, at some boat ramps, seals. Great Cormorants are predominantly black but with a light coloured face and yellow markings, and a sapphire-green eye that sparkles when it catches the sunlight. I really love it when I take a photo and the beautiful green eye is shining strongly.
The photos below were taken one morning in April at a boat ramp on the northern side of the inlet, near the bar beach. A fisherman had thrown the unwanted parts of a fish into an assembled group of birds and a Great Cormorant grabbed it, then skimmed across the water to get it away from the throng. Another Great Cormorant followed the first one, and they both pulled at the flesh.
I enjoyed sitting on the small rocky beach watching the interplay between species. Once it was over the Great Cormorants mainly disappeared, although a few stayed around to see what food they could catch in the area.
