As I sat on my favorite perch drinking my morning coffee and watching the goings on in Maine's Saco Bay, I chanced upon a Mutual of Omaha moment. The water was all agitated and swirly due to a fast running incoming tide, and a group of cormorants had just arrived and were settling in to fish for breakfast. I knew from my younger son, the outdoorsman, that there are diving ducks and puddle ducks. Puddle ducks, he tells me, make for better eating, as they dine near the water's surface - on a diet full of lovely micro greens, seeds, insects and small fish. Diving ducks, unlike their salad bar loving cousins, swim down to feed on all sorts of fish - bottom feeders, various crustaceans and all the other slimy stuff that never sees the light of day.
Cormorants aren't ducks (I was pretty sure of this, just checked, got that one right, small victory accepted). What I did not know is that cormorants are more than just divers, they're more like scuba divers, going down to depths of 25 feet and more. I had only noticed that they seemed to be down there quite awhile before resurfacing with their catch. Apparently I wasn't the only one watching. READ MORE