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Posted by Bill Pranty on 19:14:05 01/22/10
In Reply to: Neotropical Cormorant? posted by Donna Schulman
Good evening Donna,
A small cormorant is by no means an assurance of Neotropic. "Runt" individuals occur in most large bird species from time to time.
Also, the cormorant that you alluded to is not at Lake City; it is at St. Marks NWR, about 80 straight-line miles to the west.
Finally, there have been six photographic records of Neotropic Cormorants in Florida since 2006. There is essentially no chance that the same individual has been involved in more than two sightings (the same cormorant was probably involved in the 2006 and 2008 records at Boca Chica Key). Rather, Neotropics are common residents in Cuba and sw. Louisiana, and populations are expanding. So additional reports and records in Florida should be expected.
The main questions are why it took so long for Florida to get its first record, and why there have been observations from four additional -- and widely spaced -- locations so soon afterward.
Best regards,
Bill Pranty
Bayonet Point, Florida
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