One such species is the spectacled cormorant
(Phalacrocorax perspicillatus), a large, nearly
flightless seabird that lived on a few remote
islands at the western end of the Aleutian
chain. This species was first identified in 1741
by the naturalist George Steller, who traveled
with the explorer Vitus Bering on his voyage
of exploration and discovery of Alaska. Steller
discovered the large, black birds while
shipwrecked on a tiny island in the western
Aleutians. This island was later named Bering
Island because Vitus Bering and many of his
crew died there during the long winter after
the shipwreck. In midwinter, the stranded
sailors, Steller among them, began killing the
slowmoving
and unwary cormorants for food.
Steller wrote, "They weighed 1214
pounds,
so that one single bird was sufficient for 3
starving men."
Like other cormorants, the spectacled
cormorant fed on fish. Almost nothing else is
known about this extinct bird. Steller was the
only naturalist to see the spectacled cormorant
alive. Others learned of the species through
Steller's writing and brought specimens into
museums in 1837. The population of
spectacled cormorants declined quickly as
whalers, fur traders and Aleut Natives
(brought to Bering Island by the RussianAmerican
Company) killed the birds for food
and feathers. By 1850, fewer than 100 years
after Steller first saw these seabirds, the
spectacled cormorant became extinct. Steller's
records, six specimens, and two skeletons are
the only evidence that this species existed
fewer than 200 years ago.
baldwinets.tripod.com/sms/cormorant.pdf
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