Monday, August 13, 2012

A Gulp of Comorants

Lachlan has a fun book, The Book of Lists, More than 250 amazing lists of fun facts and weird trivia on almost everything you need to know!. I was glancing through the book and came to page 246, "Animal Group Names." That's when I discovered that a group of cormorants is called a "gulp."

I hope I can remember the word this coming winter when huge gulps of these birds raft out in the ocean, then come streaming back in the late afternoon to roost on sandy islands in the sound. And if you are on the island when large numbers of these birds spend time here, you can amaze and impress your friends also by pointing out a gulp of cormorants.

Our latest Ocracoke Newsletter is the story of the Hurricane House and the Hurricane Boards. You can read it here: http://www.villagecraftsmen.com/news072112.htm.

10 comments:

  1. bill kostar7:27 AM

    If he keeps on expanding his knowledge, especially about things like "gulps of comorants", he'll be ready to follow Charles on Jeopardy!

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  2. Or follow in Phillip's footprints.

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  3. debbie s.10:29 AM

    a group of kittens is called a kindle.

    :)

    my useless fact for the day.

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  4. OcracokeFan12:11 PM

    I find it interesting that historically Japanese fisherman trained cormorants to catch fish. They would tie a snare around their throat to prevent swallowing larger fish. The birds would then return to the fisherman where they would throw up their large fish. Now I can add the "gulp" to my strange facts about these amazing creatures. Thanks for sharing Philip!

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  5. Anonymous6:14 PM

    I don't think I will ever get the opportunity to impress anyone with that word in Philadelphia, but it's interesting anyway. I love trivia!

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  6. The beauty of the wildlife and the birdlife is a major reason we keep coming back to Ocracoke.

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  7. Anonymous12:48 PM

    Which of the Book of Lists does Lachlan have? BBK

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  8. Lachlan has the Scholastic book by James Buckley, Jr. and Robert Stremme. Its title is "The Book of Lists, More than 250 amazing lists of fun facts and weird trivia on almost everything you need to know!" It does not seem to be one of a series.

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  9. Anonymous8:28 AM

    Phillip, They have published many. If you could let me know what year it was published it would be helpful. Many thanks in advance. BBK

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  10. BBK, the Book of Lists was copyrighted in 2003, and is listed as "First printing, August 2003." I hope this helps.

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