Cormorant Nesting Colony Suffers Complete Failure: Take Action Today

On May 19, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced that the East Sand Island Cormorant Nesting Colony had suffered catastrophic failure with upwards of 16,000 Double-crested Cormorants abandoning their nests which were then quickly predated by scavengers such as gulls and crows.

The complete collapse of the colony was preceded by weeks of intense killing and harassment of cormorants on and around East Sand Island with federal agents killing nearly 2,400 birds with shotguns and destroying more than 1,000 cormorant nests. The U.S. Army Corps has temporarily suspended the slaughter of these birds while it investigates the colony failure but it has not ruled out killing more birds this season. Bird Alliance of Oregon is calling for the permanent end to the senseless slaughter of these birds and a comprehensive, independent investigation of the federal agencies’ actions related to the killing program at East Sand Island.

You can read our full statement on the colony failure here.