Cormorant - Food and Feeding

Cormorants are rarely found far out to sea, preferring to fish near to the coastline and perch on rocks, jetties, cliffs or trees. They often go out feeding together, flying in lines, then settling on the water in a tight bunch. They swim around, ducking their heads beneath the surface to look for fish. When one bird dives, the others follow it. Fish are brought to the surface and swallowed head first.

Cormorants are expert swimmers, floating low in the water, sometimes with only their head and neck showing. To dive, they jump up and plunge in head-first, or just sink beneath the surface. They may dive down as far as 100 feet and the longest recorded dive is of 71 seconds. Usually they stay under for less than half a minute, swimming about 20-30 feet below the surface.