Spinal Deformities
Double-crested Cormorant, August 29,
Kingston, Ontario
Juvenile found in small, artificial outdoor city pond; very weak and thin-1150g only,
and had many lice (an indication of illness). Died immediately. The unfortunate
cormorant had become tangled in fishing-line.
Body seemed stunted and the bird was thin. It had a severe lower-back spinal
deformity, as if its egg had been brick-shaped. The Canadian Wildlife Service
was interested in having the body as their studies had found unhatched chicks
with similar spinal deformities, which they had ascertained were caused by ingesting
PCBs in the fish the nestlings had been fed.
How did this badly deformed bird get from far out in Lake Ontario where their
breeding colonies were, to the park pond about 8km inland? Presumably, the
deformity did not prevent it from flying.
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