Live webcam allows 24/7 cormorant surveillance
The cormorant, a large seabird, is not the invasive species or greedy glutton that destroys fish stocks as sometimes portrayed. Instead, it is an effective check on the round goby, an invasive species now found in Estonian waters, ornithologist Kaarel Võhandu said.
In any case, the species was chosen as Estonian bird of the year 2025.
A cormorant camera on an islet in Pärnu County allows the species to be viewed in its habitat around the clock, in a colony estimated at around 500 pairs.
He told "Terevisioon": "The islets where cormorants nest are generally in nature reserve core zones, so people are not allowed there during the breeding season."
However: "Through the cormorant camera, you can observe the birds throughout the breeding season and get a good picture of their lives. Right now, it's the early phase. Nesting material is brought in, nests are worked on, and made bigger. Stronger cormorants are in the center of the colony—they lay eggs earlier; the first nests already have eggs in them," the expert added.
Weaker birds tend to be pushed to the edges of the colony and start nesting later. "Those who nest earlier are in a better position. They nest in colonies for protection from birds of prey. If a bird of prey reaches a nest, it usually raids the outer areas of the colony, where the weaker birds are—it's safer in the center."
At the start of the breeding season, viewers were treated to the birds' mating rituals.
"When the birds leave the nest, you can see how many eggs they have—cormorants usually have four to five eggs, followed by hatching chicks," Võhandu added.
The Environmental Agency (Keskkonnaagentuur) analyzed whether cormorants drive out other birds from the islets, but data does not support this, Võhandu said, adding: "Other birds nest very successfully alongside the cormorant colony."
The cormorant is not an invasive species, he added, but one which was absent before and has since returned to Estonia.
"They do eat fish, but they are not the greedy gluttons people imagine. The round goby, an invasive species, arrived here in large numbers, negatively affecting native fish stocks. The cormorant is actually a good controller of the round goby. An ecosystem is a vast network of interwoven relationships, and simple solutions like saying one species is bad and must be eradicated rarely work," Võhandu concluded.
The cormorant cam can be viewed via the livestream here.
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Editor: Annika Remmel, Andrew Whyte
Source: "Terevisioon", interviewer Juhan Kilumets
