Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
The Harringay Cormorant
We spotted this bird on the stretch of the New River behind Wightman. Mallards and moorhens are common there. Canada geese and swans are not unusual. I see mandarin ducks from time to time and occasionally a heron standing on top of the ventilation tower behind the garage. But this is the first time I've seen a cormorant (though not the first time one's been seen here, I'm sure).
When first spotted, he/she was fishing. They do this by swimming along under water. This may not be obvious from the video, but it is what is shown in the first segment. He'd disappear under water and pop up about 20 feet further along.
After catching something, he/she swam along the river. I stopped filming after a while and, of course, right then the bird made a magnificent water take off, sweeping low across the river as he/she did so!
Excuse the poor quality phonemanship. I wasn't wearing my glasses and pretty much had to guess where the bird was in the picture. It was also moving along quite quickly. The combination of motion and keeping a barely visible target in picture was clearly beyond me!
NB Soundtrack not original. The soundtrack shot with the video consisted of feet crunching on the New River Path and chatter. The current soundtrack was chosen as an alternative to that or silence.
Tags for Forum Posts: birds, cormorant, new river, new river wildlife, wildlife
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Arkady on
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Saw this one yesterday morning! It was heading at speed towards Wightman from the direction of Ally Pally.
We've also been treated twice to the the sight of a heron being mobbed by blackbirds (I think they were blackbirds anyway). The heron made the sort of racket that reminds one that birds are descended from dinosaurs.
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Permalink Reply by Maddy on
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If it was a 'mob' I'd say more likely starlings than blackbirds, who tend to be alone or in pairs. Or crows?
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Perhaps! I thought they were too large for starlings, but I now see they're of a similar size to blackbirds. Too small for crows though. I'm new to twitching! There were a good handful of them.
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Permalink Reply by Hugh on
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Of course, you must have a fantastic view of river goings on from your balcony. Lucky you.
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Woodberry Wetlands has a cormorant contingent - it may have come from there. The other day there was a very noisy battle between two different gangs of seagulls above my garden that went on for ages.
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Love the fact the cormorant sightings in Harringay are becoming more everyday.
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I remember when you had to go to the seaside to spot a cormorant. I'd say they are fairly common in London because we are on the Estuary - likewise the seagulls.
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I had thought of cormorants as coastal birds too. But, when I was checking the other day, I read that cormorants are inland birds and it is their cousins, the shags, who are coastal ones.
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Permalink Reply by catherine Hartley on
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Ah, Clive the cormorant. Always a pleasure to see him although he’s often quite shy.
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