Bird of the Year 2025: Great Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo)

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13:53 beautiful


13:53

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14:11 and here too - the flight begins

...

20:08 And now emcee announces the start of the evening

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14:11 and here too - the flight begins


...

20:08 And now emcee announces the start of the evening

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The show is minimal

21:06


21:25

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22:01 Are those pink outlines a show?


22:13

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22:53 and that is all?!


23:05 maybe the glow of a campfire on my beak?

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May 30

The day started beautifully, except for the little cormorant chick. Let's mention him first!

3:51 PM BirdLife Estonia: One chick seems to have fallen out of its nest and can't get back in! :(

4:14 PM BirdLife Estonia: I temporarily disabled automatic movements to see what is happening with this poor chick.

8:04  PM Ell M: 19:56 see kormorani tibu on nüüd vist surnud /That cormorant chick is probably dead now./

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This is the second death in the colony before our eyes. Unlike the white-tailed eagle attack, this death was more painful for the little one and for us. (It's hard to tell from other birds how much they are going through).

The little chick was probably sick or just the youngest and less competitive. Here you can see how weak he was on May 19th.
viewtopic.php?p=957714#p957714

On his last day the difference is very impressive..

12:25 The big one was begging for food


12:25 the little one also tried

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12:25 nothing of food


He lay down to sleep between his siblings.

12:34 the camera started to move away, and that was the last time we could see him in the nest, trying to crawl out from under his siblings.
13:21 the camera passes the nest on the way back, but the chick's head is visible - he is out of the nest

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12:25 nothing of food


He lay down to sleep between his siblings.

12:34 the camera started to move away, and that was the last time we could see him in the nest, trying to crawl out from under his siblings.
13:21 the camera passes the nest on the way back, but the chick's head is visible - he is out of the nest

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13:43 he is lying out of the nest, but his condition is not much worse than it was in the nest...


14:13 ...only now he is clearly visible - no chick here has ever had such a bare back..


Then he lay on the other side in the shadow of the nest and I started watching only from 17:30, when he crawled to the final place. There were episodes from those around him, siblings and his parent. (The king is dead, long live the king!)

More on the rest later.

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8:12 AM BirdLife Estonia
​​Suri ära jah :( Paar päeva tagasi nägin, kuidas sarnases suuruses poeg ise tagasi pessa ronis, aga tema millegipärast sellega hakkama ei saanud. Võib-olla oli ta haige ja visati pesast välja?
Yes, it died :( A few days ago I saw a similarly sized chick climb back into the nest, but for some reason it couldn't do it. Maybe it was sick and was thrown out of the nest?

The way the parent grabbed the chick's head when it tried to climb into the nest from his final resting place in the evening (around 6pm, I can precise) remind me of watching black storks webcam, when a chick is thrown out or crushed... and he really did collapse afterwards.. also his sibling`s flipper on his neck.

Maybe it was thrown out during the day (12:34-13:21) because the parent didn't want/couldn't feed him or he was physical abnormalities in development (beak..?)

May 29
12:45 pure little chick.. he doesn't respond to his mother... or maybe it's not a call for feeding, but a fatal assessment..

[Kunter]

Yes, I also have not seen such bare featherless back on other young chicks. Probably some sickness which resulted in deliberate abandonment by parents.

I have recently noticed several eggs in many of the nests together with quite large chicks in the same nests. These eggs must have been laid later than original eggs, I guess, because the hatching interval should not be that large?

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..Probably some sickness which resulted in deliberate abandonment by parents.

12:45 pure little chick.. he doesn't respond to his mother... or maybe it's not a call for feeding, but a fatal assessment..

I am correcting this comment. How easy it is to make a mistake if you only look at a static picture and don't remember the context. I will rehabilitate the main characters at least in the situation of that moment.

Such a good opportunity for the mother's feeding beak, but she avoids and doesn't feed anyone..

She was in a kind of sleeping position to avoid the beaks, she looks at the little one normally and he begs, shaking his neck, only the beak is not open.

12:45 May 29

I have recently noticed several eggs in many of the nests together with quite large chicks in the same nests. ?

15:53-15:54 oops, did you really notice it? and I tried to quickly hide the egg...

nest on the right

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3 episodes from a sad evening about life going on

1. the little one didn't get any mobbing from the neighbors, they were interested in more valuable things..

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2. sibling is old enough to learn "beak lunges"

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3. I have already concluded on several occasions that feeding the offspring is not the first priority for cormorants and all attention is on the inviolability of the nest and on strengthening and decorating it.

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For the little brave cormorant.



Life as a line between two points.. life between two flashes

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About the morning and midday - relationships, sea, sun, greenery, chicks, other birds..

8:31-8:32 relationships welcome ritual

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About the morning and midday - relationships, sea, sun, greenery, chicks, other birds..

8:31-8:32 relationships welcome ritual