Double-Crested Cormorant
Last week’s Bittern blog mentioned Isaiah 34:11,
“But the cormorant and the bittern shall possess it; the owl also and the raven shall dwell in it: and he shall stretch out upon it the line of confusion, and the stones of emptiness.”
That verse, along with Leviticus 11:17 and Zephaniah 2:14, put the cormorant on the “unclean” list and predicts of the destruction of Nineveh, where only the animals and birds will inhabit the city. Again, God has created and provided for another interesting bird kind.
We have the Double-crested Cormorant in this area at our many lakes. Here in North America, we have the Brandt’s, Neotropic, Great, Red-faced and Pelagic Cormorants. Worldwide there are 36 species. A very close relative see here is the Anhinga. Many of the cormorants live and fly over the oceans.
An interesting article from Institute for Creation Research, “Water, Water Everywhere … And Not A Drop To Drink,” by Donna L. O’Daniel, mentions the Double-Crested Cormorant in, “Avian Salt Glands“
“But seabirds have their own desalinization systems to deal with excess salt taken in by drinking seawater and feeding in the ocean, in the form of glands that lie inshallow depressions in or above the eye sockets….
The avian salt gland has made it possible for seabirds not only to exist but to maintain homeostasis in an otherwise hostile environment. Truly, ‘the salt gland is one of the most effective ion transport systems known.’ But how did such a system arise? There are only two possible explanations for the origin of avian salt glands: Either they evolved along with the birds themselves, or they were created within the birds by God as He spoke the feathered creatures into existence (Genesis 1:21).”
Tree full of Double-Crested Cormorants
Another article From Creation Matters – Volume 8, Number 1 January / February 2003 states:
Let the Birds of the Heavens Tell You
“Domesticated cormorants have been used for centuries in the Orient to catch fish for human consumption (Hoh and Leachman, 1998). Several families in Wucheng, China, carry out a brisk fishing business by letting these highly skilled, winged fishers do their work for them. With a wood block on a long bamboo pole, the human fisherman brings back his cormorant from the water as it delivers a freshly caught fish in its beak. Such fishing at Wucheng was better years ago, but recently one of the fishermen reported catching anywhere between 10 pounds and 100 pounds in a day by using cormorants.”
Pictures of Double-crested Cormorants, by Dan, Lake John Rockery in Lakeland
