Dr. Gail Fraser to be guest speaker on June 27 in Uxbridge

By Port Perry Star

Thursday, June 1, 2023

North Durham Nature will examine cormorants and how they're held in low regard at its next monthly meeting, to be held June 27 in Uxbridge.

Gail Fraser, an associate professor in the Faculty of Environmental Studies at York University, will lead a "Bad Reputations: Cormorants and Conservation" discussion at the Lucy Maud Montgomery Church in Leaskdale (11850 Concession 7), starting at 7 p.m.

Since their rapid population recovery in the Great Lakes, double-crested cormorants have a bad reputation because they are a large black water bird that eats fish and their nesting habits kill trees. Fraser will describe the role of cormorants in the Great Lakes ecosystems and how cormorant ecology relates to biodiversity conservation.

Fraser has worked on colonial nesting water birds for over two decades. Her master's work (North Dakota State University) was on the foraging ecology of Forster’s terns and PhD work (Memorial University of Newfoundland) was on the parental care of crested auklets.

For more information, visit www.northdurhamnature.com.

Originally posted on DurhamRegion