The cormorants that dive under water are really a challenge this year at our pond. Never been this bad before, not even close. It is especially hard when you are only at the property on weekends.
The reflective tape appears to have been relatively effective. I have gone from 10-15 in the water and surrounding trees to none in trees and 1-2 only sometimes during a day in the water. Not totally sure it's the reflective tape or just that they've eaten all the fish and moved on. Maybe some of both....but there was an obvious change right after I put up a lot of reflective tape.
It's really ridiculous that these birds are federally protected by the migratory bird act enacted in 1916.....1916?....Really?
One minor change could really help us. If needed...keep the protection on public lakes/rivers/waters where there are millions and millions of these birds that are no where near being endangered, but allow private land owners to shoot them with a license for a fee. Raise money, protect private water fish, and have very small impact on the over-all population of these type migratory birds. Good luck trying to get that type of common sense measure past the enviro-whackos.
