"Ol' Blue Eyes Goes A Courtin'"

     OL’ BLUE EYES was feeling amorous last spring. He’d been a bachelor within his close-knit community, with some of the best ocean-view real estate in the City of San Francisco. The enclave didn’t require a fenced and gated compound to keep outsiders at bay; the terrain on which they’d built their homes – steep, rocky cliffside dwellings – provided security. An intruder would literally have to fly in and risk a doughty defense. But amidst all of this companionship, Ol’ Blue Eyes was missing romance, a mate, a family. Seeing a comely female nearby, he drew back his glistening black head, exposing his brilliant electric-blue throat pouch, and bill points skyward, he fluttered his wings. He rapidly thrust his head down and forward, again and again. Fascinated, enchanted, the female indicated she was receptive. (Scene fades to crashing surf and singing violins). Meet Phalacrocorax penicillatus, the Brandt’s cormorant.

     Brandt’s cormorants are large, gregarious seabirds of the California Current, breeding mostly along the California and Oregon coasts. Their Farallon Islands National Wildlife Refuge rookery, within fish-delicious Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary, is one of the world’s largest. Brandt’s are non-migratory; why travel, when they’ve got it all here?

     BIG BLUE: With a bulbous head atop a long, thick neck, the Brandt’s is the size of a small goose, up to 31 inches long, nearly six pounds, with a wingspan of 3.5 feet. Breeding adults are blackish, with iridescent heads, necks, backs and wings. They have startlingly blue eyes and throat (gular) skin edged with tan, and wispy white feathers around head and shoulders. Nonbreeding adults are uniform black. Younger birds are dark brown, with buff-colored throats and gular pouches.

     Their feathers lack oily waterproofing, reducing buoyancy and allowing deep dives. They often perch atop pilings or rocks, wings outstretched, as they dry and preen themselves. Brandt’s feathers are outlined in black, giving them a finely-drawn, scale-like appearance. A view through a spotting scope or good binoculars will provide an appreciation of these dark beauties.

     SEAFOOD FORAYS: Brandt’s are pursuit-divers, darting after anchovies, juvenile rockfish, herring, flatfish, or crustaceans. The menu is driven by availability; the “Chef’s Special” is a key factor in diet selection. Going into a dive they may leap upward, to add thrust to their descent, propelled by their large paddle-feet. They snatch prey with long, hooked bills. Large flocks fly low across the water in long streams, headed for foraging hot spots that may also attract other seabirds, sea lions and whales!

     COLONIALS: Cormorants maintain large, dense colonies, discouraging predators, although western gulls are serious threats to the rare unattended egg or chick. The cormorants’ hard, sharp bills are a sufficient deterrent to most would-be raiders.

     COURTSHIP:  Unlike Sinatra’s melodic ballads, this Blue Eyes’ vocal repertoire is a deep, guttural "oink." The male Brandt’s selects the nest site; an isolated flat, if available, but few are, so the steep slopes of the Farallones and mainland headlands provide ledges enough to secure a ground nest. The male gathers seaweed and other materials, and the female creates the nest’s feng shui – generally a disorderly pile. Together they incubate up to four eggs. Chicks reach deep into the parental gullet to slurp its nutritious contents.

     THE LOCALS: The Farallones population has fluctuated greatly with food availability, ocean temperatures, and competition by other seabirds. In 1974, Pt. Blue Conservation Science counted 23,800 adults, but in 2009 a mere 1,248 adults. Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary’s Beach Watch program has periodically documented unusual numbers of dead cormorants on area beaches, and our ACCESS research cruises document live sightings, adding to the understanding of this species’ population dynamics. They are not threatened or endangered.

     Seabirds are excellent indicators of our ocean’s health, echoing the fluctuations in its productivity. Marine systems are constantly changing, and we are likely to detect more anomalies as ocean climate changes. This seabird data helps our scientists to gauge the health of these and other marine species and the ecosystem overall, enabling management to take steps to ensure resiliency among wild populations.

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For more information on the sanctuary’s seabird research, education and resource protection, see https://farallones.noaa.gov/eco/seabird/, and https://farallones.noaa.gov/science/access.html

Above: Brandt's cormorants '"whiskers" disappear after courtship; the blue throat patch is inconspicuous until displayed.  Credit: NOAA.

Far left: Brandt's Cormorant, Ol' Blue Eyes. Credit: David Ledig/US F&WS

Near left: South Farallon Islands' white guano swaths reveal seabird nesting sites. Credit: Joshua Hull/ USF&WS