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That's me on a trail at Archbishop Fiorenza Park, sometime in 2019. This page talks about Cormorants. Although I've seen them at BBSP, I've had more luck watching
them at other places, such as Archbishop Fiorenza Park. As time has gone by, I've learned a bit more about them. My earlier writings are therefore a bit different than the 
more recent ones. But, that's what happens as we learn.  

On 11/28/2021   I noticed a cormorant struggling with a large bowfin--at least large for the cormorant. After about 5 minutes, the cormorant was successful. It was a bit of a struggle, and you can see that in this video clip.
   
  

01/09/2021  I've been going to Fiorenza park more often lately. It's not too far from my home (about 20 minutes' drive) and very few people are there when I am.  As usual for the winter
months, many White Pelicans and Cormorants appear there.  I really enjoy seeing them forage together in large rafts, and have taken a number of photos and video clips over the last few weeks.
I've chosen to post what I saw today (January 9th) because I captured some unusual footage. 
The morning started out a bit chilly. As the sun got higher, things started to warm a bit, so prey started moving in the water.  The Pelican/Cormorant flotilla started around (usually 
there seems to be just one flotilla, but it's REALLY BIG.)  Single birds started to forage, especially near the narrows at the low sidewalk bridge. This is where I've gotten the footage of 
cormorants and grebes at work before, and I was trying for more.  I had just focused on a foraging Neotropic cormorant in HFR (High Frame Rate) mode (480fps) when it decided to 
take off.  It flew directly to my right, and therefore remained in focus most of the time. I'd zoomed in closer than I normally would because I'd expected to film prey capture, but was 
able to keep the Cormorant in frame as it flew.  In High Framerate Mode, focus is set once I start, so it's easy for a subject to move out of focus. This time I got lucky, and the video is 
pretty cool. The image below is a frame from the video. Take a look at the video here(mp4).

Aug 13 2020 Like almost everyone these days, I've been staying inside.  I have stopped driving too far... for purely recreational purposes.
I've also been avoiding parks that take much time drive to; since we are generally asked to limit travel.
Today I went out to Archbiship Fiorenza Park phase 2(second time this week!) and I was happy to see it wasn't crowded. I walked, but not far, since I wanted to keep an eye on my car.
I saw quite a few things. Cormorants often dive for fish near the bridge (I have posted other pictures taken there), Here are two pictures of
a Neotropic Cormorant (Phalacrocorax brasilianus) that was hunting that day. The striking white border around the back edge of its beak is a good identification mark.  
The third image is a frame grab from a video clip of one of the cormorants (I can't tell if it's the same one in the photos) that had surfaced with a fish.   I've tried to 
capture video of that act many times.  I have to focus on a section of the surface of the lake, and hope to catch the subject surfacing in frame and in focus.  The video,
shown at this link (mp4), turned out nice, for once.

12/07/2019-12/14/2019  I was at Fiorenza Park last weeked. I noticed some Pied-Billed Grebes hunting, along with the usual Cormorants. After a while, I noticed that the grebes started catching fish.
One of them caught and swallowed a nice-sized fish (some kind of crappie, or maybe a tilapia, I think).  Then, I was surprised to see them catching and eating armored catfish! I caught some of
this on video. Some of the attached images are frame grabs from the video, and some are  just photos. While shaking and "juggling" their armored catfish, it seemed that the grebes
were handling them by the fins, and violently shaking them by twisting their heads. I've seen Yellow-crowned Night Herons use this shame technique while breaking off the claws and
legs of crawfish.  Perhaps the grebes were trying to break off the sharp "barbs" on the fins of the fish before they ate them. It appeared that the grebe would lift the fish by one of the barbs,
then violently shake it. I couldn't see for sure if the barbs were breaking off, though.  Then, I returned to the park on 12/14.  This time I caught some video that shows that the grebes are breaking
the sharp spines off of the catfish!  I've added that clip to the edited video. The 4 images on the bottom row below are frame-grabs that show when the spike has been broken off. The arrow in
the last image is pointing to the spike in the grebe's beak.  I've edited the clips  together into this video showing the differing techniques.
The cormorants used a different technique to subdue their  fish. Their method employed the sharp hook  at the tip of their top beak (upper mandible). The Cormorants tossed their armored fish
until it was upside-down. This exposed the fish's softer underside to that hook. Then the cormorants forced the hook into the fish (by violent shaking)--most likely doing major damage and causing
 the fish to weaken and relax its spines.  This is all guesswork driven by what I can see in the video clips.  I've edited them together into this video showing the differing techniques.
About the armored catfish....
I've been calling these fish plecostomus for a long time. I was aware that there were a few different species of these in local bodies of water--but I had read somewhere that
calling them all "plecostomus" was acceptable. Just recently, I've finally found some information that may help tell these species apart. From the sources I can find, it
seem that the most common armored catfish are one of two genus:  The Hypostomus genus and Pterygoplichthys genus.; with the two most likely species as Hypostomus plecostomus
and Pterygoplichthys anisitsi. (that's pronounced  ter-go-plik-thees according to this source listed ).  The clearest descriptions I've found online were in this document on the Edwards Aquifer website: 
https://www.edwardsaquifer.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/2005_Howells_SuckermouthCatfishes.pdf  or, if that document gets moved, here is the page with the link:
https://www.edwardsaquifer.org/doc_publications/exotic-suckermouth-catfishes-family-loricariidae-in-texas-waters/

       
     
     

04/01/2017, 04/08/2017   I tried to see an Eagle at Fiorenza Park again. No luck. But as usual, Double-Crested Cormorants were active, And for these two days, they were fishing
close enough for me to observe them easily.  As I have mentioned before various species of the fish generally known as Plecostomus have established an invasive presence in Texas.
Most of the fish being caught by the Cormorants on these two days were Plecostomus.
    
Of the two similar types of diving birds that I can see in Texas--Cormorants and Anhingas--I'd always admired the strategy and habits of the Anhingas. Anhingas swim
totally submerged, and spear fish with their pointed beak. Then they surface, shake the impaled fish off their beak, toss it up and eat it.  However, this stabbing attack
may not work against Plecostomus which are also called "armored catfish". The Plecostomus don't seem to be much of a problem for the Cormorants, though.
   
As some of these pictures show, sometimes a Cormorant was a little too successful, having caught a fish too large to eat. I saw a few Cormorants actually give up on fish they'd caught
and just leave them under water.  Some of these close-up shots really show the hook on the end of their upper mandible--and how sharp that hook is. The lower mandible fits closely
inside that hook, and the two parts make the beak a formidable tool for catching and handling fish.
   
   

In a few of the pictures (and in the video clips that I filmed) the Cormorants used their beak with great dexterity, and were able to find chinks in the armor covering most of the
body of the fish--by piercing their eyes, or softer underside. Sometimes it took a few minutes before the Plecostomus was weakened enough to be swallowed, but the birds were
usually successful. The video clips from these two days can be seen here and here.

   

In about 90 minutes, I saw a number of Plecos dispatched (10 or more? I wasn't counting)...just in the area I was watching. Just imagine the hundreds of invasive Plecostomus
that are probably being removed from Brays Bayou by the Cormorants in this park in a week!

11/24/2016 -12/26/2016 15 miles from the center of downtown Houston is Archbishop Fiorenza Park. I hadn't been there since one visit some years ago, before the lakes were completed. My friend Chris had been taking
pictures of cormorants out at the park, so I decided to go back and look for some cormorants myself. Chris had gotten some pictures of cormorants with plecostomus that they'd caught, so I hoped for the same luck he'd had. 
(You can see much better pictures taken by Chris and Elisa on their website--Two Shutterbirds.)
It's a very, very nice park, featuring some large lakes (which are expansions of Brays Bayou).  And...there are LOTS of cormorants. I visited the park about 8 times from November 12 - December 24.
The weather wasn't the best for taking pictures, and the comorants can be shy. But there is a place between two high spots where the birds are constantly flying back and forth.  Anyone who wishes to practice catching images
of birds in flight will certainly find many opportunities to do so at Fiorenza park. Just stand near the central bridge that spans the West side of the East loop to the East side of the West loop and point your camera at the flying 
traffic. The pictures below show a few of the cormorants going by.

   
November 26, 2016 Neotropic cormorant      November 26, 2016 Neotropic cormorant   November 26, 2016 Neotropic cormorant     November 26, 2016 Neotropic cormorant

     
November 26, 2016 Neotropic cormorant      December 17, 2016 Neotropic cormorant   December 17, 2016 Neotropic cormorant  December 24, 2016  Trees full of cormorants!     

Those that are swimming tend to stay yards away from where the people are, but they will occasionally come nearer.  I've watched a single cormorant harvest 5 - 10 plecostomus within 20 minutes. However, the birds 
were usually too far away to get good pictures.  I decided to try to take high-frame rate video (480 fps) of cormorants as they take off from the water. The camera I have now can shoot these films at higher frame rate 
and resolution than I have in the past. Although most of the cormorants were still pretty far away (at least 25 yards, usually), I can crop the higher-resolution video for use on my website. And so I've compiled this film 
from clips I collected during that time.
When birds take off, they have to generate enough air movement over their wings to generate lift. They can run along the ground, or hop off the ground, turn into the wind, or fall from a branch. Things are a bit more 
complicated if the bird is floating in deep water. Cormorants start their takeoff by lifting their wings to prepare for a downstroke. Then they push back with both broadly webbed feet then push down with their wings 
to lift their body out of the water. While on the same wing downstroke, they pull their feet forward. The wings go back up as the feet are striking the water. The feet push back, then the wings come down. Each wing 
downbeat/foot push increases the cormorant's forward speed until it becomes airborn. Watching the process slowed-down really emphasizes the effort and coordination required to do this. The video illustrates the 
take off. And, there are many other birds at Fiorenza park. Bald Eagles hunt there, and I've seen Ospreys, Roseate Spoonbills, and magnificent
White Pelicans!!  More pictures and video clips to come.
   
November 26, 2016 Neotropic cormorant      November 26, 2016 Neotropic cormorant      Frame grab from the video clip.

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                        SECOND HOP                                                            FEET KICKING BACK                                                          FINAL HOP                                                  LAST TOUCH OF THE FEET                                   OLD RICKUBISCAM 122108

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                  ANHINGA AND CORMORANT                                         THE CORMORANT PROFILE                                            THE ANHINGA                                    
  Anhinga and Cormorant video (wmv 8.5mb).                    

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                   THE CORMORANT SWIMS                                     THE CORMORANT LOOKS DOWN
                Cormorant swims video (wmv 5.0mb).

I was able to capture a some short video footage of the Cormorant swimming. The RICKUBISCAM shows one frame from this video. Two other frames are above (Cormorant swims; Cormorant Looks Down). The images and video 
clearly show how high the Cormorant's back is above the water. The Cormorant is more buoyant because of a layer of air that it keeps near its body. This layer also acts as insulation against the heat-dissipation effects of being 
submerged in water.
Finally, an Anhinga took off from the tree and flew away from me, then circled back and landed in the water. I was able to catch part of this flight on video.
The image below is a frame from the video clip. The video clip shows it entering the water. The Anhinga immediately sinks--but a very small part is briefly visible for a few seconds. I suspect this is because there was still some air 
trapped in voids among the feathers. Whatever the reason, once the Anhinga dives, it remains totally submerged except for its head and neck. In the video, one can see why the Anhinga is sometimes called a "snakebird".

      THE ANHINGA LANDING
Anhinga lands video (wmv 5.0mb).

If you'd like to know more about the park follow these links:

Brazos Bend State Park   The main page.

Brazos Bend State Park Volunteer's Page  The volunteer's main page.
 

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