Bad Reputations: Cormorants and Conservation

JAY THIBERT, North Durham Nature Club

UXBRIDGE: On June 27, The North Durham Nature Club will be hosting – Bad Reputations: Cormorants and Conservation with Gail Fraser at 7 p.m., at Lucy Maud Montgomery Church, in Leaskdale, 11850 Concession 7, Uxbridge.

Since their rapid population recovery in the Great Lakes, double-crested cormorants have a bad reputation because they are large black water bird which eats fish, and their nesting habits kill trees. Professor Gail Fraser describes the role of cormorants in the Great Lakes ecosystems and how cormorant ecology relates to biodiversity conservation.

Gail Fraser is an associate professor in the Faculty of Environmental Studies at York University. She has worked on colonial nesting water birds for over two decades. Her master's work from North Dakota State University was on the foraging ecology of Forster’s terns, and her Ph.D. work, Memorial University of Newfoundland, was on the parental care of crested auklets. With her depth of knowledge and experience, this is sure to be a fascinating and illuminating talk. Everyone is welcome.