We Need To Talk About the Cormorants

I recently wrote about my tour of the Toronto Island with Warren Hoselton. It was mainly a walking tour, but there was some water taxi action as well. There's a stretch west of Centre Island by Hanlon's Point where the trees have been overwhelmed by cormorants. We're talking thousands of them, roosting densely.

The problem, as you might see in the photo above I shot Friday night, is that cormorant guano, which is a nice way of saying shit, is toxic. It's literally killing the trees, and it smells like.... well, it's something else. Rotten seafood would be a preferable alternative.

It's a delicate matter, obviously. Cormorants are indigenous and were fine in Tommy Thompson Park, but the Toronto Island has a rather delicate ecosystem and I've seen with my own eyes the damage done to the tree canopy. But the wrench in the plans to displace the cormorants came in the form of a couple of bald eagles who made their home on the island. With the bald eagles there, plans to get the cormorants back to Tommy Thompson Park were halted.

Meanwhile, I've discovered a great name for a rock band: Toxic Guano.