Photo: Lise Lafond

A trio of cormorants perches in a tree, or what’s left of a tree… Cormorant droppings are very acidic and tend to kill the trees they perch on.

Sitting by the lake in Sainte-Catherine de la Jacques-Cartier, I observed a strange large dark-brown bird that was trying to pass incognito, by blending in with a flock of mallard ducks. I wasn’t sure, but as soon as its posture changed, I knew that it was a cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus).