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a few weeks ago I witnessed something and had not though a lot about it till the other day! while fishing a armada of Pelicans with cormorants flew over me...there were so many they stretched over the whole part of the lake I was on. waves of the...not going to guess how many..but ore than I could count. Yesterday was talking with someone fed up with them and chased them with his boat. two pelicans could no fly...they were so full of keeper crappie they couldn't...your thoughts
Read a post recently where they allowed shooting them on santee in sc ( think it was santee). Read article that said they eat about 12 fish a day. Didn't specify a type of fish. I assume whether it's a problem depends on are these birds natural inhabitants of the area and/or are there populations exploding because a predator has been removed.
saw a flock of them have moved into one of my favorite areas and have stayed for a while. I saw something that looked like a big white tug barge off in the distance in an area I knew one would not be, it was a big flock of those pelicans.
Saw them today in swan creek area. Did you buddy kill and bisect pelicans?
No he didn't wasn't sure if they were protected....although he in no way a animal rights person...just know everything in the Eco system are needed...he just don't want then eating our crappie...the fish he noticed his clients were catching had injuries on them...the gulls would chance the cormorants causing them to regurgitate their food and eat their food they threw up.. He was told he was sky is falling person...who knows....
The Cormorants NEED to be eradicated on the big G protected or not as they have been totally detrimental since they showed up! There are 6 kinds in the US ,but I think we only have 2 here ,the Great cormorant and the Double Crested.They have killed off all the vegatation on some of the islands in the Browns creek area where they roost, there are so many and they will actually herd fish up into shallows and devour them in droves(seen that around the islands).Where they came from I dont know but are normally a coastal bird i think .Growing up on the lake in the early 60's and 70's you never saw them.My fishing budddy calls the the rare chinese black duck.....As to the White Pelicans they are a late arrival to the bird scene on Gville but are starting to be like the Cormorants and are growing in numbers it seems. According to most birding books they shouldnt even be here as their main breeding grounds are out west in the upper great plains and are only suppose to be winter visitors to the coastal areas.Since they too feed on fish they are not a good thing. BUT according to the bird books they can only eat smaller fish and minnows (shad) as they cannot digest large fish bones and it can actually kill them,on the other hand crappie bones are rather soft unless its a big slab so im sure they are way laying the under sized crappie too.
I was told all these birds were displaced here from hurricane Katrina and just keep coming back every year. On the Coosa where I fish most of the time we are over run with them as well. I wish there was something that could be done to get rid of them. Wonder how they taste.
Well, they can get them out of the Big G area for sure. Saw two nice dead crappie floating around today and the idea of a pelican spitting it back up is exactly what it looked like! Cormorants are really getting to be a nuisance/pest as well. Like SK said they are starting to impact the fishery and eco systems.