Kakadu Beach bird roost report: 25 May 2025 - Influx of Little Black Cormorants

I certainly had no inkling of what the bird count had in store for me prior to the astonishing event that occurred today at the roost.  A beautiful calm day with the water like a silver coated millpond and dozens of fishing boats in the Passage.  I had just finished the count and was looking at a orange leg flag on a Caspian Tern when my telescope darkened and the sky was filled with hundreds and hundreds of Little Black Cormorants, coming from the east in wave after wave, landing on the beach and swimming off shore in the water until the beach was jam packed with an estimated 2800 birds.  They were moving so quickly it was impossible to count but fortunately, Win and Paul both took excellent photos and I managed some – gob-smacked at the spectacle – on my phone, which allowed me to make an educated guestimate, although probably very conservative. The dozen or so boats  fishing just offshore must have been equally amazed as masses of black feathered figures hurtled low across the water to the roost. The sea was boiling with swimming birds, landing and taking off in dense waves.  And silent, not a sound from them except the noise of wings and water.  Some unfortunate fifty or so Far Eastern Curlews who had been enjoying the peace and incoming tide took off in alarm.  The cormorants were feeding on a shoal of baitfish that had come too close to the beach, but hundreds settled along the roost and up onto the sand, briefly drying their gleaming black wings (cormorants lack the oil in the their feathers which most seabirds have) in the sunshine before plunging back into the water or taking to flight further along the coast.  A large flock of 66 pelicans flew in and landed as well, using the turmoiled frenzy in the water to snatch at fish brought to the surface by the seething mass of diving cormorants.  Fifteen minutes later, they had moved on and the roost was almost deserted: the cormorants and pelicans in a great rolling motion flew and swam past Banksia Beach and up towards White Patch.  Here the baitfish must have turned into deeper water, because I could see small flocks - 10 to 20 or so - of Little Black Cormorants slowly flighting back over Toorbul towards Beachmere.

With approximately  3055 birds on the roost, this must be one of the biggest bird totals we have ever recorded.  The timing was so quick that it was hard to believe what I had just seen. Extraordinary spectacle.

Thanks to Paul and Win for some photos attached.  I hope Paul’s video link below can be opened.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/Xz5B2KBqypa9f4QT9