Along with finding migrating waterfowl on a few local lakes, it is also time to find double-crested cormorants. (For ease, I’ll refer to them as cormorants in this column.)

Anyone who has visited “The Shore,” especially in late summer or fall, has probably seen them. They are rather unusual looking birds, almost prehistoric, with a dull black plumage. They have a varying amount of colors (depending on their age and sex) in their facial region.

Cormorants may reach about 30-35 inches in size and weigh up to 5 pounds, about Canada goose size and proportions. Adult males have orangish skin near and below their beaks. All cormorants have thin, toothed, hooked beaks they use to grab and hold fish. They are almost exclusively fish eaters.

To eat, cormorants swim, sitting low in the water, and then dive to outmaneuver and grab fish. The fish are swallowed whole. They then, like the anhingas that I discussed in a prior column, will climb onto docks, channel buoys and markers, low trees close to the shore or even a moored boat. Here they can be seen spreading their wings to dry them quicker. Anhingas and cormorants’ feathers aren’t as oily as other waterfowl.

They can be found in practically every state but they don’t breed in most. They breed along the northern New England Coast, along Canadian lakes and waterways, and along the northernmost Great Lakes. I, along with birding buddies Dave and Rich, see them regularly in both their spring and autumn migration layovers. Beltzville Lake, Wild Creek Reservoir and Penn Forest Reservoir are the hot spots. I’m sure they utilize Mauch Chunk Lake and the Francis E. Walter Dam, too.

You should begin seeing them visiting these bodies of waters in the next few weeks. They could still be observed possibly through the first week of May. We have been most successful, especially on Beltzville, to see them on rainy days when little boat activity is evident there. The other reservoirs, with no boat usage allowed, are more conducive to seeing them for a longer period of time.

If at New Jersey or Maryland shore points, look for loose flocks of 10 to maybe 50 birds migrating along or just off the beach. The flocks are less organized like Canada geese and they often drift in and out of “position” regularly.

In the water, a good way to identify them is how low they often sit in the water. Compared to most ducks and geese where most of their bodies are above the surface. As I always remind you, get out there, social distancing can be very easy as you walk or drive along these seldom used lakes this time of the year. I will avoid as much human contact as possible on any birding ventures over the duration of this pandemic.

Test Your Outdoor Knowledge: Arrange the following squirrel family members from biggest to smallest in size. Red squirrel, flying squirrel, gray squirrel and chipmunk.

Last Week’s Trivia Answer: Deer, eating buds, twigs and leaves predominantly, are called browsers.

Contact Barry Reed at breed71@gmail.com.