Bib and Bub

Look what the wind blew in! Too cute for their own good.

Bib and Bub baby cormorants, weighed only 260 and 350gms when first arrived at ASR.

Actually these baby cormorants have had a rough start in life. Their nest with them in it was blown out of a tree at the Sydney Olympic Park during gale force winds. Unable to return the nest up the tree, ground keepers took the babies to the Homebush Exotic Animal Hospital who in turn transported them to Australian Seabird Rescue in Wollongong.

Weighing a tiny 260 and 350gms they are now being spoilt and have doubled in size and weight. Luckily they avoided injury in the fall other than a scratch on the head of Bub. On maturity they have the most beautiful green eyes. Although mainly a fresh water bird they are also found in Indonesia and New Zealand.

Bib and Bub the baby cormorants are gaining weight quickly.

Our co-ordinator Kirsten what to be present when this 69 year old wrinkled body gets in the water to teach them to fish. Guess what! I love them but that isn’t going to happen.

Betty.

Little Black Cormorant

Leonie with the cormorant found at Austinmer.

This little darling turned up when the big winds were on a couple of weeks ago. He must’ve been blown off course as he was in all sorts of trouble at Austinmer near the ocean pool when Australian Seabird Rescue received a call.

So off to Leonie’s for some warmth and TLC. She got him back on his feet, then moved him to a larger enclosure and pool where he made himself quite comfortable and ate a heap of pilchards. We decided to let him go but he wasn’t having any of that and wanted to go home to his private pool. A couple more days and plenty of pilchards it was time to move him on. So back to the lake and he waddled out of the cage – had a look around and was last seen wandering up the wharf to the other cormorants. He certainly owes his life to the lady who spotted him and Leonie’s nursing skills.

Betty

A Cape Petrel fell out of the sky on to the deck of a ship!

Earlier in the month, a rainy cool "summer" day certainly turned out to be interesting! Firstly a call from the Port about a bird that had hitched a ride on a cargo ship sailing from Melbourne to Wollongong. Apparently they ran into a big storm out at sea and a bird "fell out of the sky" onto the deck of the ship. Luckily it was spotted by the crew and put into a warm box until they docked in Wollongong. It turned out to be a Cape Petrel and was placed in care very tired and  underweight. It's held in this picture by Australian Seabird Rescue volunteer Jessica.

Jessica holding the Cape Petrel which fell out of the sky on to the deck of a ship.

Cape Petrel

We had just about got home when another call came in about a diesel spill back where we had just come from, and reports of a distressed cormorant covered in diesel in the wetlands. So a big U-turn and off we went. On arrival all the relevant chemical hazard vehicles were there with flashing lights etc.

The cormorant was in the channel of the wetlands by now and the only access was through the bush and lantana with calf deep water into the reeds. The continuous rain didn't help but after an hour of firstly locating and then working out how to get him, the bird was caught drenched in diesel. He wouldn't have lasted the night. A big thank you to Jessica who got a lot of scratches from the lantana and ruined a pair of shoes! Thanks also to the other people who helped us with the cormorant.

Betty

A Gulp of Cormorants!

There's been a run of cormorants recently. On the weekend of 20th November, Australian Seabird member Kirsten, took a trip to a Caringbah vet (about 60km from Wollongong). Unfortunately this handsome cormorant had a broken wing and had to be euthanized.

Whilst we were manning our regular market stall at Kiama a call came about a cormorant in distress in the shallows. Unable to leave the markets, the gentleman caught him and brought him to us. Unfortunately he died overnight with lungs full of water.

Then on the 28th November another of our members, Val, retrieved a cormorant from Stanwell Park Beach on the edge of the Royal National Park. She took him to the vet who assessed he was exhausted and a bit underweight. He was transferred to Wollongong the next day into care for a bit of R & R and free fish. While we were feeding him he took at a swipe at Leonie and caused a surface cut. Boy are they fast!

On the same day returning from a pelican rescue, a call came in about a cormorant in a backyard not near a waterway. The beautiful pied boy in the photo had lost his way, so we took him to the harbour.

Both the Stanwell Park boy and the little pied were last seen happily fishing amongst their pelican friends.

Thanks to Kirsten, Val and Leonie.

Betty

Leonie with the cormorant who had lost his way!

Little Black Comorant adopts a pelican for its' mum!

Here's a delightful Australian Seabird Rescue story from Rhonda....

This is very young " Little Black Cormorant '' (which is its name as opposed to Cormorant or pied cormorant). He was found in a backyard at Fairy Meadow, after obviously having left Mum and was undernourished. At the same time we had a very gentle pelican in care who had recovered from pneumonia. The poor Little Cormorant decided to adopt the pelican as its Mum. It snuggled up to her and walked around with her every step. At night I found it sleeping under the pelican's chest.

What was I to do when it was time to release them? I decided to release them together. When they arrived at the lake the pelican swam towards the breakwall and the Little Cormorant followed. Later on in the day 3 more adult Little Cormorants arrived and since then they have adopted the juvenile and they fly around together.

The pelican is doing fine also.

Little Black Comorant

Little Black Comorant adopts a pelican for its' mum!