92-416: Phalacrocorax aristotelis The European shag or common shag ( Gulosus aristotelis ) is a species of cormorant . It is the only member of the monotypic genus Gulosus . It breeds around the rocky coasts of western and southern Europe, southwest Asia and north Africa, mainly wintering in its breeding range except for the northernmost birds. In Britain this seabird is usually referred to as simply
184-475: A Benedictine community was established. The monks agreed to maintain nine priests on the island to pray for the souls of the Kings Of Scots. The island, with the supposed relics of Ethernan who died there in around 669, was a popular destination for pilgrims during the later Middle Ages . Evidence that it was already an important place for pilgrimage in the 12th century include the remains of
276-431: A monophyletic group, even after the removal of the distantly-related tropicbirds . Their relationships and delimitation – apart from being part of a "higher waterfowl" clade which is similar but not identical to Sibley and Ahlquist's "pan-Ciconiiformes" – remain mostly unresolved. Notwithstanding, all evidence agrees that the cormorants and shags are closer to the darters and Sulidae (gannets and boobies), and perhaps
368-600: A control centre on the island for indicator loops and six ASDIC units laid on the seabed to detect U-boats and enemy surface vessels trying to enter the Forth from shortly before the Second World War until 1946. Since 1956 the isle has been dedicated as a National Nature Reserve and managed by the Nature Conservancy Council , now NatureScot, although until 1989 it was actually owned by
460-866: A patch of bare yellow skin at the base of the bill. Breeds in European Arctic, winters in Europe and North Africa. Maritime. Mid-sized (70–80 cm), glossy black, in breeding plumage with a forehead crest curled to the front. Throughout the Americas. Mostly freshwater. Smallish to large (65–100 cm), nondescript brownish-black. One species with white tufts on sides of head in breeding plumage. Generally Subantarctic, but extending farther north in South America; many oceanic-island endemics. Maritime. Smallish to largish (65–80 cm), typically black above, white below, and with bare yellow or red skin in
552-509: A period of two months before they can fly. Fledging may occur at any time from early June to late August, exceptionally to mid-October. The shag is a pursuit-diving seabird that feeds predominantly in benthic habitats. Due to the relative ease with which diet samples can be collected from this species (regurgitated food or pellets) and the perceived conflict between the Phalacrocoracidae and fisheries, shag diet competition has been
644-475: A ten-seater communal lavatory , much larger than necessary for an abbey with only nine or ten monks. Bishop Fraser of St Andrews bought the priory from Reading Abbey in 1288, although there was an attempt to overturn this and the dispute rumbled on for about fifty years. The priory was finally transferred to the Canons of St Andrews in 1318, and was relocated at Pittenweem (see Pittenweem Priory ). The island
736-484: A while with the King of Scots, and were well treated. King David sent men to those who had been robbed by Swein, and told them to estimate their loss themselves, and then of his own money, he made good to everyone his loss. However, no abbot of the name Baldwin was recorded. There may be some conflation with St Baldred, who is connected with the nearby Bass Rock , and St Baldred's Boat off Dunbar . Another possible mention of
828-408: A wide range of fish but their commonest prey is the sand eel . Shags will travel many kilometres from their roosting sites in order to feed. In UK coastal waters, dive times are typically around 20 to 45 seconds, with a recovery time of around 15 seconds between dives; this is consistent with aerobic diving, i.e. the bird depends on the oxygen in its lungs and dissolved in its bloodstream during
920-471: Is a nomen dubium and given its recent age probably not a separate genus. The remaining fossil species are not usually placed in a modern phylogenetic framework. While the numerous western US species are most likely prehistoric representatives of the coastal Urile or inland Nannopterum , the European fossils pose much more of a problem due to the singular common shag being intermediate in size between
1012-485: Is a family of approximately 40 species of aquatic birds commonly known as cormorants and shags . Several different classifications of the family have been proposed, but in 2021 the International Ornithologists' Union (IOU) adopted a consensus taxonomy of seven genera . The great cormorant ( Phalacrocorax carbo ) and the common shag ( Gulosus aristotelis ) are the only two species of
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#17327732431411104-405: Is a peninsula in the north, known as Rona, which is almost a separate island, being cut off from the main island at high tide. Geologically, the island is composed of a "fine grained basalt of a dark-grey colour with tinges of green and greenstone ". It is crossed by a series of faults that run west–east across the island, and which have been eroded to form steep geos (gullies). The island
1196-523: Is also used in the Southern Hemisphere for several additional species of cormorants . This is a medium-large black bird , 68 to 78 cm (27 to 31 in) long and with a 95-to-110-centimetre (37 to 43 in) wingspan. It has a longish tail and a yellow throat patch. Adults have a small crest in the breeding season. It is distinguished from the great cormorant by its smaller size, lighter build, thinner bill, and, in breeding adults, by
1288-460: Is an ornate gothic tower on a castellated stone building designed to resemble a castle , 24 metres (79 ft) high and with accommodation for three light keepers and their families, along with additional space for visiting officials. The new lighthouse started operating on 1 September 1816, and is now a listed building . It was upgraded in September 1836, when a new light and refractor lens
1380-606: Is home to the one of the largest puffin colonies in the United Kingdom. During the Summer months, Puffin breeding pairs return from the sea to mate among burrows in the cliffs. Each pair returns to the same burrow they use every year. These birds have attracted a significant number of tourist and bird enthusiasts. The island can be reached by boat from either the town of Anstruther or North Berwick . Although only around 57 hectares in size, 297 bird species have been recorded on
1472-984: Is in the Cíes Islands , Spain, with 2,500 pairs (25% of the world's population). Cormorant Microcarbo Poikilocarbo Urile Phalacrocorax Gulosus Nannopterum Leucocarbo Australocorax Lambrecht , 1931 Compsohalieus B. Brewer & Ridgway , 1884 Cormoranus Baillon , 1834 Dilophalieus Coues , 1903 Ecmeles Gistel, 1848 Euleucocarbo Voisin, 1973 Halietor Heine, 1860 Hydrocorax Vieillot , 1819 ( non Brisson, 1760: preoccupied ) Hypoleucus Reichenbach , 1852 Miocorax Lambrecht, 1933 Nesocarbo Voisin, 1973 Notocarbo Siegel-Causey, 1988 Pallasicarbo Coues, 1903 Paracorax Lambrecht, 1933 Pliocarbo Tugarinov , 1940 Stictocarbo Bonaparte, 1855 Viguacarbo Coues, 1903 Anatocarbo Nanocorax (see text) Phalacrocoracidae
1564-524: Is liable to result in some degree of convergent evolution and the bone is missing indisputable neornithine features, it is not entirely certain that the bone is correctly referred to this group. Phylogenetic evidence indicates that the cormorants diverged from their closest relatives, the darters, during the Late Oligocene, indicating that most of the claims of Cretaceous or early Paleogene cormorant occurrences are likely misidentifications. During
1656-455: Is long, thin and hooked. Their feet have webbing between all four toes. All species are fish-eaters, catching the prey by diving from the surface. They are excellent divers, and under water they propel themselves with their feet with help from their wings; some cormorant species have been found to dive as deep as 45 metres (150 ft). They have relatively short wings due to their need for economical movement underwater, and consequently have among
1748-515: Is not even clear how many species are involved. Provisionally, the fossil species are thus all placed in Phalacrocorax here: The former "Phalacrocorax" (or "Oligocorax" ) mediterraneus is now considered to belong to the bathornithid Paracrax antiqua . "P." subvolans was actually a darter ( Anhinga ). Humans have used cormorants' fishing skills in various places in the world. Archaeological evidence suggests that cormorant fishing
1840-674: Is not sufficient to properly resolve several groups to satisfaction; in addition, many species remain unsampled, the fossil record has not been integrated in the data, and the effects of hybridisation – known in some Pacific species especially – on the DNA sequence data are unstudied. A multigene molecular phylogenetic study published in 2014 provided a genus-level phylogeny of the family. Microcarbo – 5 species Poikilocarbo – red-legged cormorant Urile – 4 species Phalacrocorax – 12 species Gulosus – European shag Nannopterum – 3 species Leucocarbo – 16 species As per
1932-420: Is still practised as a cultural tradition. Isle of May The Isle of May is located in the north of the outer Firth of Forth , approximately 8 km (5.0 mi) off the coast of mainland Scotland . It is about 1.5 kilometres (0.9 miles) long and 0.5 kilometres (0.3 miles) wide. The island is owned and managed by NatureScot as a national nature reserve . There are now no permanent residents, but
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#17327732431412024-657: Is the Cornish name of the sea giant in the tale of Jack the Giant Killer . Indeed, "sea raven" or analogous terms were the usual terms for cormorants in Germanic languages until after the Middle Ages . The French explorer André Thévet commented in 1558: "the beak [is] similar to that of a cormorant or other corvid", which demonstrates that the erroneous belief that the birds were related to ravens lasted at least to
2116-517: Is thought to have split from the Nannopterum - Leucocarbo clade between 9.0–11.2 million years ago . There are three subspecies : The subspecies differ slightly in bill size and the breast and leg colour of young birds. Recent evidence suggests that birds on the Atlantic coast of southwest Europe are distinct from all three, and may be an as-yet undescribed subspecies. The name shag
2208-639: Is undertaken by the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology , as part of the Isle of May Long Term Study . Recent evidence has shown that at a community-scale, diet composition at this colony has changed from predominantly lesser sandeel Ammodytes marinus in the 1980s, to a range of alternative prey in recent years. This change is believed to relate to warming ocean conditions around the Isle of May, and linked changes in prey availability. There are also winter visitors, and
2300-551: The Clements Checklist , formerly recognised only Microcarbo as a separate genus from Phalacrocorax . For details, see the article " List of cormorant species ". The details of the evolution of the cormorants are mostly unknown. Even the technique of using the distribution and relationships of a species to figure out where it came from, biogeography, usually very informative, does not give very specific data for this probably rather ancient and widespread group. However,
2392-791: The IOU , the IUCN Red List and BirdLife International , the family contains 7 genera: Around Indian Ocean, one species extending from Central Asia into Europe. Mostly in freshwater habitat. Small (about 50–60 cm long), nondescript black to dark brown (except for one species with white underparts). Subtropical to subantarctic Pacific South America, ranging a bit into the southwestern Atlantic. Maritime. Mid-sized (around 75 cm), grey with scalloped wings and contrasting white/yellow/red neck mark and bare parts. Its high-pitched chirping calls are quite unlike those of other cormorants. Northern Pacific, one species extending into subtropical waters on
2484-571: The Northern Lighthouse Board . A coal-fired beacon was established in 1635 (or 1636 ) by James Maxwell of Innerwick , and John and Alexander Cunningham, who charged shipping a tonnage-based fee. This was originally 2 Scottish shillings per ton for Scottish ships (equivalent to two pence sterling ) and twice this amount for non-local shipping per voyage, but was reduced to 1 shilling and sixpence, and three shillings respectively in 1639 with some shipping entirely exempt during
2576-575: The Quercy Phosphorites of Quercy (France), dating to some time between the Late Eocene and the mid- Oligocene . All these early European species might belong to the basal group of "microcormorants", as they conform with them in size and seem to have inhabited the same habitat: subtropical coastal or inland waters. While this need not be more than convergence , the phylogeny of the modern (sub)genus Microcarbo – namely, whether
2668-642: The shag . The scientific genus name derives from the Latin for glutton. The species name aristotelis commemorates the Greek philosopher Aristotle . The European shag was formerly classified within the genus Phalacrocorax , but a 2014 study found it to be significantly more diverged than the clade containing Phalacrocorax and Urile , but basal to the clade containing Nannopterum and Leucocarbo , and thus classified it in its own genus, Gulosus . The IOC followed this classification in 2021. Gulosus
2760-590: The 16th century. No consistent distinction exists between cormorants and shags. The names "cormorant" and "shag" were originally the common names of the two species of the family found in Great Britain – Phalacrocorax carbo (now referred to by ornithologists as the great cormorant ) and Gulosus aristotelis (the European shag ). "Shag" refers to the bird's crest, which the British forms of
2852-622: The 9th century and built into an unusual mass- burial mound that probably dates from prehistoric times. Although radiocarbon dating of bones reveal them to date from the 7th century to the 10th century, remains of Bronze Age funeral urns suggest that the mound may be older. The current chapel on the site is dedicated to Saint Adrian of May , who was killed on the island by Danish invaders in 875. The thirteenth-century Orkneyinga saga records another Viking raid, by Sweyn Asleifsson , and Margad Grimsson, after they had been expelled from Orkney by Earl Rögnvald , when they went raiding on
European shag - Misplaced Pages Continue
2944-612: The American West Coast. Maritime. Smallish to large (65–100 cm), generally black with metallic sheen (usually blue/green), in breeding plumage with bright bare facial skin in the eye region and two crests (crown and nape). Mostly around Indian Ocean, one species group extending throughout Eurasia and to Atlantic North America. Maritime to freshwater. Size very variable (60–100 cm), blackish with metallic sheen (usually bronze to purple) and/or white cheek and thigh patches or underside at least in breeding plumage; usually
3036-564: The Early Oligocene, perhaps some 30 million years ago, and that the Cretaceous fossils represent ancestral sulids, "pelecaniforms" or "higher waterbirds"; at least the last lineage is generally believed to have been already distinct and undergoing evolutionary radiation at the end of the Cretaceous . What can be said with near certainty is that AMNH FR 25272 is from a diving bird that used its feet for underwater locomotion; as this
3128-578: The North American ones placed in the expanded Phalacrocorax ; the latter might just as well be included in Nannopterum . A Late Oligocene fossil cormorant foot from Enspel , Germany, sometimes placed in Oligocorax , would then be referable to Nectornis if it proves not to be too distinct. Limicorallus , meanwhile, was initially believed to be a rail or a dabbling duck by some. There are also undescribed remains of apparent cormorants from
3220-519: The Phalacrocoracidae; this was from a rather smaller bird, about the size of a long-tailed cormorant . However, cormorants likely originated much later, and these are likely misidentifications. As the Early Oligocene "Sula" ronzoni cannot be assigned to any of the sulid families—cormorants and shags, darters, and gannets and boobies—with certainty, the best interpretation is that the Phalacrocoracidae diverged from their closest ancestors in
3312-631: The Western Eurasian M. pygmaeus is a basal or highly derived member of its clade – is still not well understood at all as of 2022. Some other Paleogene remains are sometimes assigned to the Phalacrocoracidae, but these birds seem rather intermediate between cormorants and darters (and lack clear autapomorphies of either). Thus, they may be quite basal members of the Palacrocoracoidea . The taxa in question are: The supposed Late Pliocene/Early Pleistocene " Valenticarbo "
3404-464: The available evidence suggests that there has also been a great deal of convergent evolution ; for example the cliff shags are a convergent paraphyletic group. The proposed division into Phalacrocorax sensu stricto (or subfamily "Phalacrocoracinae") cormorants and Leucocarbo sensu lato (or "Leucocarboninae") shags does have some degree of merit. The resolution provided by the mtDNA 12S rRNA and ATPase subunits six and eight sequence data
3496-463: The birds to fish. In a common technique, a snare is tied near the base of the bird's throat, which allows the bird only to swallow small fish. When the bird captures and tries to swallow a large fish, the fish is caught in the bird's throat. When the bird returns to the fisherman's raft, the fisherman helps the bird to remove the fish from its throat. The method is not as common today, since more efficient methods of catching fish have been developed, but
3588-464: The breeding season. The bill is long, thin, and sharply hooked. Their feet have webbing between all four toes, as in their relatives. Habitat varies from species to species: some are restricted to seacoasts, while others occur in both coastal and inland waters to varying degrees. They range around the world, except for the central Pacific islands. All cormorants and shags are fish-eaters, dining on small eels , fish, and even water snakes. They dive from
3680-399: The building is now used for bird watching . In 1930 two keepers rescued four crew members of the wrecked commercial trawler George Aunger by swimming out to it. The lighthouse became a "rock" station on 9 August 1972, meaning that the keeper's families were no longer accommodated at the lighthouse but on the mainland, and a fully automatic one on 31 March 1989 shortly before ownership of
3772-495: The city of Inuyama , Aichi . In Guilin , Guangxi , cormorants are famous for fishing on the shallow Li River . In Gifu, the Japanese cormorant ( P. capillatus ) is used; Chinese fishermen often employ great cormorants ( P. carbo ). In Europe, a similar practice was also used on Doiran Lake in the region of Macedonia . James VI and I appointed a keeper of cormorants, John Wood , and built ponds at Westminster to train
European shag - Misplaced Pages Continue
3864-554: The closest living relatives of the cormorants and shags are the other families of the suborder Sulae — darters and gannets and boobies —which have a primarily Gondwanan distribution. Hence, at least the modern diversity of Sulae probably originated in the southern hemisphere. While the Leucocarbonines are almost certainly of southern Pacific origin—possibly even the Antarctic which, at the time when cormorants evolved,
3956-663: The creamy white patch on the cheeks of adult great cormorants , or the ornamental white head plumes prominent in Mediterranean birds of this species, but is certainly not a unifying characteristic of cormorants. The cormorant family are a group traditionally placed within the Pelecaniformes or, in the Sibley–Ahlquist taxonomy of the 1990s, the expanded Ciconiiformes . Pelecaniformes in the traditional sense—all waterbird groups with totipalmate foot webbing—are not
4048-413: The crest and metallic green-tinged sheen on the feathers . Among those differences are that a shag is smaller and has a lighter, narrower beak, and the juvenile shag has darker underparts. The European shag's tail has 12 feathers, as do the great cormorant's 14 feathers. The green sheen on the feathers results in the alternative name green cormorant sometimes being given to the European shag. It feeds in
4140-505: The dive. When they dive, they jump out of the water first to give extra impetus to the dive. It breeds on coasts, nesting on rocky ledges or in crevices or small caves. The nests are untidy heaps of rotting seaweed or twigs cemented together by the bird's own guano . The nesting season is long, beginning in late February but some nests are not started until May or even later. Three eggs are laid. Their chicks hatch without down and so they rely totally on their parents for warmth, often for
4232-401: The eastern seaboard of Scotland: They sailed south off Scotland until they came to Máeyar (the Isle of May). There was a monastery, the head of which was an abbot, by name, Baldwin. Swein and his men were detained there seven nights by stress of bad weather. They said they had been sent by Earl Rögnvald to the King of Scots. The monks suspected their tale, and thinking they were pirates, sent to
4324-544: The facial region. A circumpolar group of several species (the blue-eyed shag complex) is characterised by bright blue orbital skin. Prior to 2021, the IOU (or formerly the IOC) classified all these species in just three genera: Microcarbo , Leucocarbo , and a broad Phalacrocorax containing all remaining species; however, this treatment rendered Phalacrocorax deeply paraphyletic with respect to Leucocarbo . Other authorities, such as
4416-459: The family commonly encountered in Britain and Ireland and "cormorant" and "shag" appellations have been later assigned to different species in the family somewhat haphazardly. Cormorants and shags are medium-to-large birds, with body weight in the range of 0.35–5 kilograms (0.77–11.02 lb) and wing span of 60–100 centimetres (24–39 in). The majority of species have dark feathers. The bill
4508-535: The family into two genera and attach the name "cormorant" to one and "shag" to the other, but this nomenclature has not been widely adopted. Cormorants and shags are medium-to-large seabirds . They range in size from the pygmy cormorant ( Microcarbo pygmaeus ), at as little as 45 cm (18 in) and 340 g (12 oz), to the flightless cormorant ( Nannopterum harrisi ), at a maximum size 100 cm (39 in) and 5 kg (11 lb). The recently extinct spectacled cormorant ( Urile perspicillatus )
4600-537: The fluffy grey seal pups in winter, without disturbance. The Scottish Seabird Centre also runs boat trips to the Isle of May. As well as its natural heritage, the Isle of May also has a rich cultural heritage, including St Adrian's Chapel, which is a Scheduled Ancient Monument . Furthermore, the Isle of May Lighthouse; Keepers' Houses; North and South Horns; the Low and Light Cottages; the Coal Store and Stable Block; and
4692-462: The former Lighthouse Beacon have all been included in the list of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest. The island is around 1.5 km long and 0.5 km wide, with an area of about 57 ha. The western coast of the island consists of cliffs that are up to 45 metres in height. The land tilts from here down to the eastern shore, which is mostly rocky with three small beaches: Pilgrims Haven, Kirkhaven and Silver Sands. There
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#17327732431414784-596: The great cormorant lack. As other species were encountered by English-speaking sailors and explorers elsewhere in the world, some were called cormorants and some shags, sometimes depending on whether they had crests or not. Sometimes the same species is called a cormorant in one part of the world and a shag in another; for example, all species in the family which occur in New Zealand are known locally as shags, including four non-endemic species known as cormorant elsewhere in their range. Van Tets (1976) proposed to divide
4876-451: The highest flight costs of any flying bird. Cormorants nest in colonies around the shore, on trees, islets or cliffs. They are coastal rather than oceanic birds, and some have colonised inland waters. The original ancestor of cormorants seems to have been a fresh-water bird. They range around the world, except for the central Pacific islands. "Cormorant" is a contraction probably derived from Latin corvus marinus , "sea raven". Cormoran
4968-489: The island all year round, and whales are occasionally sighted in the summer. The Isle of May is the second largest east coast breeding colony of grey seals in Scotland, and around 3,000 pups are born here each year. Minke whale and harbour porpoise are often seen in the seas surrounding the island. The earliest reference to rabbits on the Isle of May dates from 1329, and they are thought to have been introduced here by
5060-577: The island as of April 2024. The island is free from predators such as foxes and rats, and thus provides a safe breeding site compared to the mainland. At the height of the breeding season the Isle of May can host around 200,000 seabirds, including puffins , black-legged kittiwakes , razorbills , guillemots , shags , fulmars , oystercatchers , eider ducks , and various species of tern and gull . These numbers can fluctuate considerably from year to year, depending on weather and fish stocks. Extensive dietary and demographic monitoring of these seabirds
5152-406: The island each year. The island is closed to visitors from 1 October until Easter to prevent disturbance to the large number of seal pups. The Scottish Seabird Centre at North Berwick has two live cameras on the island, which can be remotely controlled by visitors, to allow close viewing of the seabird cities, including puffins , guillemots , razorbills , shags , cormorants and terns and
5244-459: The island from both languages, including "Tarbet" ( tairbeart , an isthmus), "St Colme's Hole" ( Colm Cille ) and "Ardchattan" from Gaelic, and "Kirkhaven" which may refer a Norse original "Kirkshavn". It is also thought that the name may refer to the use of the island by the Maeatae as a royal burial site. The island was the site of one of the earliest Christian churches in Scotland, founded in
5336-505: The island hosts internationally important numbers of turnstones and purple sandpipers . Various species of pipits, thrushes and wagtails are also commonly seen. The Isle of May also sees occasional visits from migratory birds that do not normally visit Britain, but get blown off route from Scandinavia by easterly winds; recent examples include black-winged stilt , lanceolated warbler , White's thrush , bridled tern and calandra lark . Both harbour seals and grey seals can be seen on
5428-526: The island is under the name "Mosey". This may be a conflation with Mousa (properly Mosey), since it comes close to a mention of "Moseyjarborg" (the Broch of Mousa ), or a mistranscription of "Maey" in the old script. It is also suspiciously similar to the previous extract. The original church was expanded during the 12th century by David I of Scotland , under the aegis of Reading Abbey which had been founded by his brother-in-law , Henry I of England and thus
5520-473: The island passed to the Nature Conservancy Council . It is now monitored and controlled via a UHF radio link to Fife Ness Lighthouse and then by landline to the Northern Lighthouse Board headquarters in Edinburgh . The modern light produces two white flashes every 15 seconds, and has a range of 41 kilometres (22 nmi) in good visibility. The fog signal , from two designated buildings at each end of
5612-558: The island was the site of St Adrian's Priory during the Middle Ages. Most visitors to the island are daytrippers taking the ferry from Anstruther in Fife , although up to six visitors can stay at the bird observatory , usually for a week at a time. The only way to get there is by ferry; the journey takes 45 minutes from the small harbours of Anstruther and Crail , and also from North Berwick . As of 2015, around 11,000 people visit
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#17327732431415704-460: The island's monks. The island also has its own unique race of house mice . The island's name is of disputed etymology, but is possibly of Old Norse origin, meaning "island of seagulls". Alternatively, it is from the Gaelic Magh meaning a plain – most of the other islands in the Forth, such as Inchmickery , Inchcolm and Craigleith have Gaelic etymologies. There are certainly names on
5796-489: The island, were powered by compressed air, generated from the island's power plant in the centre of the island, and delivered by 150-millimetre (5.9 in) cast-iron pipes laid on the ground to top up a series of air tanks located adjacent to both North and South buildings. The North horn provided a single blast of 7 seconds duration every 2 1 ⁄ 4 minutes and the South horn provided four 2 1 ⁄ 2 second blasts of
5888-973: The island. He returned in a row boat in June 1508 to shoot at sea birds with a culverin. On 24 August 1539 Mary of Guise and her husband James V made a pilgrimage to the Isle of May. They took three ships, the Unicorn , the Little Unicorn , and the Mary Willoughby . It was believed that a visit to the shrine could help a woman become pregnant. The Prior of Pittenweem passed the island to Patrick Learmonth of Dairsie , Provost of St Andrews in 1549. He sold it to Balfour of Monquhany in 1551, who in turn passed it on to Forret of Fyngask seven years later, who sold it to Allan Lamont, who in turn sold it to John Cunningham (or Cunynghame) of Barnes (in Fife) who
5980-474: The late Paleogene, when the family presumably originated, much of Eurasia was covered by shallow seas, as the Indian Plate finally attached to the mainland. Lacking a detailed study, it may well be that the first "modern" cormorants were small species from eastern, south-eastern or southern Asia, possibly living in freshwater habitat, that dispersed due to tectonic events. Such a scenario would account for
6072-403: The layer of air next to the skin. The wing drying action is seen even in the flightless cormorant but not in the Antarctic shags or red-legged cormorants. Alternate functions suggested for the spread-wing posture include that it aids thermoregulation or digestion, balances the bird, or indicates presence of fish. A detailed study of the great cormorant concludes that it is without doubt to dry
6164-456: The lighthouse, with a three-wick paraffin lamp kept lit but turned down in case the electric lamp failed. The new light was first used on 1 December 1886 and produced four flashes every 30 seconds. The high cost of the coal, around 150 tons per year, along with improvements in oil lights led to the replacement with an incandescent mantle in 1924. Another smaller lighthouse, the Low Light
6256-630: The mainland for men. When Swein and his comrades became aware of this, they went hastily aboard their ship, after having plundered much treasure from the monastery. They went along Myrkvifjörð (the Firth of Forth), and found David , the King of Scots, in Edinburgh . He received Swein well, and requested him to stay with him. He told the King explicitly the reason of his visit, how matters had gone between him and Earl Rögnvald before they parted, and also that they had plundered in Máeyar. Swein and Margad stayed for
6348-460: The most extreme case be reduced to the great , white-breasted and Japanese cormorants . In 2014, a landmark study proposed a 7 genera treatment, which was adopted by the IUCN Red List and BirdLife International , and later by the IOC in 2021, standardizing it. The cormorants and the darters have a unique bone on the back of the top of the skull known as the os nuchale or occipital style which
6440-454: The night of 19 December 1810 because their navigators had mistaken a lime kiln on the mainland coast for the beacon. The Northern Lighthouse Board purchased the island in 1814 from the Duke and Duchess of Portland for 60,000 pounds , by which time the beacon was the last remaining private lighthouse in Scotland. A proper lighthouse was built on the island in 1816 by Robert Stevenson . and
6532-563: The other two European cormorant lineages, and as of 2022 still of mysterious ancestry ; notably, a presumably lost collection of Late Miocene fossils from the Odesa region may have contained remains of all three (sub)genera inhabiting Europe today. Similarly, the Plio-Pleistocene fossils from Florida have been allied with Nannopterum and even Urile , but may conceivably be Phalacrocorax ; they are in serious need of revision since it
6624-613: The past 3 decades, from sandeel specialists to an increasingly diverse prey base. The European shag can be readily seen among the following locations during the breeding season, between late April and mid-July: Saltee Islands , Ireland; Farne Islands and Isles of Scilly , England; Isle of May , Deerness and Fowlsheugh , Scotland; Runde , Norway; Iceland ; Denmark ; Faroe Islands ; Galicia , Northern Spain; Dalmatia and Istria , Croatia. In April 2017, eight new European shags were born in Monaco . The largest colony of European shags
6716-468: The pelicans or even penguins , than to all other living birds. In recent years, three preferred treatments of the cormorant family have emerged: either to leave all living cormorants in a single genus, Phalacrocorax , or to split off a few species such as the imperial shag complex (in Leucocarbo ) and perhaps the flightless cormorant . Alternatively, the genus may be disassembled altogether and in
6808-427: The plumage. Cormorants are colonial nesters, using trees, rocky islets, or cliffs. The eggs are a chalky-blue colour. There is usually one brood a year. Parents regurgitate food to feed their young. The genus Phalacrocorax , from which the family name Phalacrocoracidae is derived, is Latinised from Ancient Greek φαλακρός phalakros "bald" and κόραξ korax "raven". This is often thought to refer to
6900-502: The present-day distribution of cormorants and shags and is not contradicted by the fossil record; as remarked above, a thorough review of the problem is not yet available. Even when Phalacrocorax was used to unite all living species, two distinct genera of prehistoric cormorants became widely accepted today: The proposed genus Oligocorax appears to be paraphyletic – the European species have been separated in Nectornis , and
6992-537: The same pitch every 2 1 ⁄ 4 minutes. The North and South horns did not blast together, being approximately 67 1 ⁄ 2 seconds apart. This facility was discontinued in 1989. The May lighthouse was mentioned in John Buchan 's 1934 novel The Free Fishers – "Far out the brazier on the May was burning with a steady glow, like some low-swung planet shaming with its ardour the cold stars." The Isle of May
7084-434: The sea floor. After fishing, cormorants go ashore, and are frequently seen holding their wings out in the sun. All cormorants have preen gland secretions that are used ostensibly to keep the feathers waterproof. Some sources state that cormorants have waterproof feathers while others say that they have water- permeable feathers. Still others suggest that the outer plumage absorbs water but does not permit it to penetrate
7176-404: The sea, and, unlike the great cormorant, is rare inland. It will winter along any coast that is well-supplied with fish . The European shag is one of the deepest divers among the cormorant family. Using depth gauges , European shags recorded diving up to 61 m (200 ft) deep. European shags are preponderantly benthic zone feeders, i.e. they find their prey on the sea bottom. They will eat
7268-436: The small row boats used to transport them to Kirkhaven (harbour) overturned leading to the loss of 13 lives. The so-called "Battle" of May Island took place nearby on the night of 31 January 1918. A sequence of accidental collisions between Royal Navy warships occurred over little more than an hour which saw two submarines sunk with heavy loss of life, another four damaged along with a light cruiser . The Navy maintained
7360-438: The subject of substantial scientific interest. Evidence collected at one colony, the Isle of May , Scotland, between 1985 and 2014, suggests that shag chick diet composition in this population has diversified in response to ocean warming . Shags also feed on fewer sandeel on windy days, presumably due to the strong effect of wind on flight in this species. The year-round diet of full-grown shags at this colony has also changed over
7452-456: The summer. The beacon, the first permanently manned one in Scotland and considered at the time to be one of the best in existence, used around 400 tons of coal per year, requiring three men to look after it. One of the three lightkeepers, George Anderson, and his wife Elisabeth, along with five of their six children were suffocated by fumes in January 1791. Their eleven-month-old daughter Lucy
7544-458: The surface, though many species make a characteristic half-jump as they dive, presumably to give themselves a more streamlined entry into the water. Under water they propel themselves with their feet, though some also propel themselves with their wings (see the picture, commentary, and existing reference video ). Imperial shags fitted with miniaturized video recorders have been filmed diving to depths of as much as 80 metres (260 ft) to forage on
7636-404: Was called a xiphoid process in early literature. This bony projection provides anchorage for the muscles that increase the force with which the lower mandible is closed. This bone and the highly developed muscles over it, the M. adductor mandibulae caput nuchale, are unique to the families Phalacrocoracidae and Anhingidae. Several evolutionary groups are still recognizable. However, combining
7728-592: Was constructed a few hundred yards from the main light in 1843 to provide (with the main lighthouse) a pair of lights which would become aligned to help ships avoid the North Carr Rock 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) to the north of the island off Fife Ness . It was first used in April 1844, but is no longer used, having been made redundant by the establishment of the North Carr Lightship in 1887 and
7820-490: Was discovered alive three days later. Ash and clinker had piled up beside the 12-metre-high (39 ft) beacon tower over the previous ten years and had reached the window of keepers' room, and was set smouldering by coals falling from the beacon. The light was sometimes hard to recognise, for example HMS Nymphe a 36-gun fifth rate captured from the French in 1780 and HMS Pallas were wrecked near Dunbar on
7912-455: Was fitted, and further extensive work took place in 1885–1886. Additional dwellings, boiler and engine houses, a workshop and a coal store were built 250 metres (270 yd) from the lighthouse in a small valley containing a fresh water loch . The engine house was fitted with two steam-powered generators , at 4.5 tons each the largest ever constructed at that time, and with a total output of 8.8 kilowatts . These powered an arc lamp in
8004-635: Was found in the Nemegt Formation in Mongolia; it is now in the PIN collection. It is from a bird roughly the size of a spectacled cormorant, and quite similar to the corresponding bone in Phalacrocorax . A Maastrichtian (Late Cretaceous, c. 66 mya) right femur , AMNH FR 25272 from the Lance Formation near Lance Creek, Wyoming , is sometimes suggested to be the second-oldest record of
8096-688: Was not yet ice-covered—all that can be said about the Phalacrocoracines is that they are most diverse in the regions bordering the Indian Ocean, but generally occur over a large area. Similarly, the origin of the family is shrouded in uncertainties. Some Late Cretaceous fossils have been proposed to belong with the Phalacrocoracidae: A scapula from the Campanian - Maastrichtian boundary, about 70 mya (million years ago),
8188-448: Was one of Scotland's most important pilgrimage centres. Mary of Guelders visited the island and the shrine of St Adrian in June 1449, according to Mathieu d'Escouchy . Andrew Wood of Largo is said to have maintained a ship for royal pilgrimages. James IV came on 10 May 1506, wearing new yellow breeches and again in September, sailing in the Lion . He gave a reward to a hermit on
8280-633: Was practised in Ancient Egypt, Peru, Korea and India, but the strongest tradition has remained in China and Japan, where it reached commercial-scale level in some areas. In Japan, cormorant fishing is called ukai ( 鵜飼 ) and is performed by a fisherman known as an usho. Traditional forms of ukai can be seen on the Nagara River in the city of Gifu , Gifu Prefecture , where cormorant fishing has continued uninterrupted for 1300 years, or in
8372-470: Was rather larger, at an average size of 6.3 kg (14 lb). The majority, including nearly all Northern Hemisphere species, have mainly dark plumage , but some Southern Hemisphere species are black and white, and a few (e.g. the spotted shag of New Zealand) are quite colourful. Many species have areas of coloured skin on the face (the lores and the gular skin ) which can be bright blue, orange, red or yellow, typically becoming more brightly coloured in
8464-527: Was responsible for the first lighthouse beacon on the island. In the sixteenth century the crews of ships suspected of plague were ordered to sail to the island and remain until they were judged healthy. The May Isle has long been a focal point of the nearby fishing communities. Annually, the wives and children of the small village of Cellardyke were taken to the May Isle for a picnic by the fishermen. On 1 July 1837 one such trip turned to tragedy when one of
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