Photo and Commentary ©2025 by Robert Howson
Tuesday, June 24, 2025
When most people think of a cormorant they conjure up an image of a black sea bird. And such a generalization is certainly understandable. Even the name cormorant is an English corruption of corvus marinus, meaning sea-crow. Of the roughly 40 species found across the globe, five can be seen on our own West Coast. Brandt’s Cormorant is one of these. There it can be found along the shoreline reaching from Alaska to Mexico, but it essentially never wanders inland.
Both pelicans and cormorants are part of the order Pelecaniformes and both have gular pouches which allow them to swallow fish. These pouches are much more apparent in the pelicans, but they serve a similar function in cormorants. It’s during the breeding season that these pouches become most apparent. In the Brandt’s Cormorant the throat pouch becomes a brilliant blue bordered by a band of pale buffy feathers. Display of this pouch is part of the courtship routine in much the same way the Blue-footed Booby displays its colorful feet.
Here in the cormorant’s pouch we see the tension between function and appearance played out. The tension comes into play in the human arena where we are susceptible to misusing one of these. God instructs Moses: ““Make sacred garments for your brother Aaron to give him dignity and honor.” (Exodus 28:2 NIV) But the verse we’re more likely to quote is 1 Peter 3:3 “Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes.” (NIV) Our error comes from failing to give the right emphasis which comes from the following verse. “Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.” (vs 4 NIV) The cormorant got it right, a right balance between function and appearance.