This cache is part of a series of caches on the Great Florida Birding Trail for my Girl Scout Gold Award project. The purpose is to teach people about the birds native to the area so they can learn more about the birds and how to protect them and their environment.
This cache is located at the Chain of Lakes Park, located at 2300 Truman Scarborough Way, Titusville, FL 32796, and is open 24 hours. The park is pretty big so I suggest you bring a bike. Watch out for tree knees so you don't trip.
Double-Crested Cormorant
Characteristics
- Large waterbirds with small heads on long, kinked necks and thin, strongly hooked bills
- Brown-black with a small patch of yellow-orange skin on the face
- In the breeding season, adults develop a small double crest of stringy black or white feathers
Behavior
- Float low on the surface of water and dive to catch small fish
- After fishing, they stand on docks, rocks, and tree limbs with wings spread open to dry
Conservation Status
- Population has had ups and downs, has long-term decline
- After DDT was banned in 1972, populations began increasing
Habitat
- Coasts, bays, lakes, rivers. Very adaptable, may be found in almost any aquatic habitat
- Breed on the coast as well as on large inland lakes
- Form colonies of stick nests built high in trees on islands or in patches of flooded timber
Interesting Facts
- From a distance, Double-crested Cormorants are dark birds with snaky necks, but up-close they’re quite colorful
- The double-crest is only visible on adults during breeding season
- Makes a bulky nest of sticks and other materials such as rope, deflated balloons, fishnets, and plastic debris. Parts of dead birds are commonly used too