CORMORANTS UNDER ATTACK

Read my books and you'll find occasional references to tall, streamlined black birds which dive into and swim in the sea like Olympic athletes: their long beaks, spears that cut through the water as a chef's sharp knife through fish fillets, and their shiny wings stretch out like a lady's fan to dry. Cormorants often catch my attention when near their habitats: either off the shores or inland, where they congregate in large flocks.

If you look at my website, you'll see this pic above of the sophisticated "fishermen" along a Provincetown jetty. I took this shot as we "whale watchers" motored out of the harbor toward Stellwagen Bank in a large vessel. Most passengers were as oblivious to the seabirds as the double-crested cormorants were toward the human hordes dwelling on the decks.

The intended picturesque description above, a nod to my next book in the Shadowwater series, explains my admiration for these birds but, sadly, others don't share this fondness. Like their land-dwelling cohorts the common crow, cormorants have received a bad rap.

Many moons ago, NSTAR, now named Eversource, our electric utility on Cape Cod, decided to place towers on the north and south sides of Cedar Pond in Orleans, MA. Through the towers, the utility then threaded power lines on which cormorant flocks perch seasonally, from April through September. The avian multitudes' guano, however, has polluted the pond with nitrogen and phosphorus, creating algae blooms. Articles and editorials in The Cape Cod Times and other local papers that decried the deluge resulted in Eversource refusing to move or bury the power lines--too expensive--and the Orleans asking the USDA to come in to assess the situation. The department's solution? Shoot noisy rockets, or what officials euphemistically call "pyrotechnics" across the pond to scare away the offending cormorants. In fairness, the USDA had used this technique to frighten cormorants with some success. (www.capecodtoday.com )

Problem: cormorants knew better this time. They either left and returned in tentative waves of smaller flocks or moved to a nearby pond with power lines, Depot Pond. Meantime on top of the electrical towers, ospreys had nested, evidently ignored by the local officials and federal agency, for a friend discovered a dead osprey juvenile alongside the pond. I also read that a truck had been allegedly hit by a rocket but the driver not injured (Cape Cod Times, August 2014).

Now, I support the Orleans Pond Coalition and their fight to keep our town ponds clean. In addition, I can see the Orleans town officials' viewpoint by working out a solution that would be cost effective, expedient as well as harmless, in theory.

However, the basic problem has been overlooked: the utility placed the power lines, without considering the entire environmental impact. Moreover, the town's leaders didn't intervene at that time to raise objections--if there were protests they haven't been cited in recent reports--to the power lines. Now it appears the once endangered species, the osprey, have paid the price.

Scare tactics don't justify the end. Only accepting responsibility and correcting mistakes made in the beginning will solve the problem. And yet, the cormorants have been bullied but not beaten. Cormorants will return or move on but will always be here--at least I hope so.

NOTE: I chose not to submit this article as an editorial to local papers because I had an opinion piece published two weeks ago.

My passion extends to my books. Please check out: www.shadowwater.net for more information. Thanks!