As with their closest relatives, the Pelicans, Cormorants also have a beak-pouch, or gular sac, though it is not as extensive or obvious, only going about halfway up the mandible, as opposed to the full length in the Pelicans.
Sometimes it will be distended during calling or display, Here, a Pied Cormorant is showing it very well distended. About as prominent as you will see in a Cormorant.
They don't rely on it as much as the Pelicans for catching & draining their prey, though like them, it does facilitate the feeding of the young, making it easier for them to get down into the parent's crop to extract the food.
All others in the order Pelecaniformes share this feature, along with totipalmate feet, with all four toes being webbed.
>>4981601 According to Wiktionary, the sexual term appears to be...
"From Middle English schaggen, a variant of Middle English schoggen (“to shake; shake off; tremble”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps a byform of Middle English schokken (“to shake; move rapidly”), related to Middle Low German schokken (“to shake; tremble”). Alternatively, perhaps ultimately from Proto-Germanic *skakkōną (“to shake”), specifically continuing a post-Proto-Germanic variant *skagg-, where the non-singular stem *skag- caused the analogical replacement of the stem-final voiceless geminate consonants with voiced geminates, which was then leveled throughout the paradigm."
As for the Birds, the term derives from shag as meaning rough or coarse hair, and refers to the head crests and tufts that a number of Cormorant species possess, either year-round or just during the breeding season.
As for which labeling was first, I haven't been able to determine.
I've rarely seen cormorants until my birthday this year when I noticed a colony on a dead tree in the lake right behind my house. At least one of them has tried following a flock of pelicans to catch their leftovers. Just a couple days ago I saw one with a fish wider than its head sticking halfway out its throat, couldn't tell if it swallowed or dropped it. The roost is or was right next to a pair of trumpeter swans' nest too which is funny because the parents chased geese far off the water a month ago. They're double cresteds if anyone's wondering.
>>4979341 I was working at a beach when a cormorant, while trying to eat a fish way too big, busted its skull on a post and died. it was sad I called the animal ambulance but it was too late :(
I'm continuing my paternal tradition of offering a few fish after we go out, and they've learned to be mostly patient and leave us alone on the water. They look so handsome til they go all glizzy gulper...
Double-Crested Cormorant Nannopterum auritum The signature double crest only appears in the breeding season. And the already vivid blues and greens intensify during that time.
I'm an avid waterfowl hunter. Where I live has a pretty long season for cormorants with big daily limits and no possession limits. Usually that means the government is having issues with an animal and needs people to help control the population. In all my years doing this I've met one guy ever who said he tragets them specifically and he said they're only good in curry. One of the guys I hunt with shot one just to see what they're like and he said it tasted muddy, fishy and metalic.
>>4991491 >dives to the bottom passing through several schools of fish and sharks large enough to eat it >crawls inside a narrow hole to grab one tiny little fish >refuses to elaborate >leaves