the.com/cormorant
a feathered fishing torpedo that refuses to waterproof itself like everyone else.
means A large, dark, fish-eating waterbird with a long neck and hooked bill that dives underwater to hunt and then perches with wings spread to dry, since its feathers aren't fully waterproof.
from From Old French 'cormaran,' which traces back to Latin 'corvus marinus' — literally 'sea raven' — for this glossy black diving bird that looked, to old eyes, like a crow gone fishing. The final 't' in English is a bit of a mystery, probably tacked on by association with words like 'peregrine' and other bird and beast names; over time 'cormaran' became 'cormorant.'
- wet wings
- Soaks feathers on purpose to dive deeper, faster
- crucified pose
- Spreads wings to dry, looking gothic and damp
- human partners
- Trained for centuries to fish for people in Asia
- deep diver
- Some species hunt 45 meters underwater
- snake bird
- Swims with only its serpentine neck exposed
great cormorant — largest cormorant species, found across europe, asia, africa and oceania with population over 1 million
flightless cormorant — only cormorant that cannot fly, endemic to galápagos islands with ~1,200 individuals
japanese cormorant fishing — traditional practice in kyoto using trained cormorants to catch fish since the 13th century