Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Cormorants

Yesterday we awoke to another beautiful and warm November day. There was rain looming offshore, so to take advantage of the good weather I decided to take a walk on the beach in the morning with a friend. When we walked over the dunes we looked down the beach and were met with a sight I'd never seen on Ocracoke before. A blanket of cormorants were standing at the waterline. They were about 30 deep and extending down the beach for a quarter of a mile or more. There were thousands of them. Usually we see cormorants flying in seemingly endless lines across the pink sky around dawn or dusk, but it's rare to see this many congregated on Ocracoke's beach in the middle of the morning. Of course I didn't have my camera with me, but there were so many, a photo wouldn't have done it justice anyway.

Our latest Ocracoke Newsletter is about the role Ocracoke played in the earliest English voyages of exploration and colonization in the New World. You can read it here: http://www.villagecraftsmen.com/news112111.htm.

6 comments:

  1. And the batteries were probably dead anyway.

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  2. Hi, this is Philip...this morning Amy wrote the blog for me (I am not on the island today). After I read her post I called her up. "Surely you didn't see thousands of ospreys," I said. "You meant cormorants, right?"

    "Of course," she said. "Somehow I just had 'osprey' in my mind."

    So, if you read the post earlier today and wondered about it...you will now see that "osprey" has been changed to "cormorant."

    It still must have been an impressive sight! Thanks for sharing this with us, Amy.

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  3. Anonymous10:16 AM

    Thanks Philip! Nice to know I'm not losing it ... YET.

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  4. Anonymous11:36 AM

    I have noticed a large number of cormorants on the beach this month too. Wonder what's up? Maybe something to do with the storm - like all the spring plants coming alive on the island. Saw some daffodils blooming last week! Yipes. Do love the cormorants - they are so sleek.

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  5. Anonymous10:05 PM

    This just in: The cormorants were planning on extending their visit to Ocracoke however the were not willing to stay when they discovered the lack of public restrooms. They said they were moving on to another area where more restrooms were provided for the traveling public.

    Several lead cormorants said they were willing to pay whatever the price to use a quality public restroom. Others commented that basic services for the islands needy should taken a back seat to building the bathrooms. "I was horrified to think that I would have to fly back over to the other side of the beach to relieve myself, I am not going to live under these conditions!" Said Phala C. Rocorax Auritus spokesbird for the Cormorants Requesting Appropriate Potties Foundation.

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  6. Anonymous8:44 AM

    Very funny Anon 10:05....get your point and don't agree, but hey, what a clever post! Thanks for the entertainment.

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