A friend recommended a new book, "The Double-crested Cormorant: Symbol of Ecological Conflict," so I picked up a copy. My heart fell as I peeked inside the jacket: the author, Dennis Wild, is described as a writer of outdoor articles, mostly for fishing periodicals. So, even though he is said to have a degree in zoology, I prepared myself for some brainwashing of a familiar kind. It's hard to find--other than in obscure scientific sources-- objective material on cormorants and what humans are doing to them here. I went to our Division of Wildlife's web site to see the latest, but the search function wasn't working, and the cormorant wasn't in its A-Z Species Guide, or in the Nuisance Wildlife pages. Why not? I guess it's understandable that shooting native non-game birds wouldn't be their proudest accomplishment. Most of what I see these days about Ohio's ongoing cormorant-shooting project appears, accompanied by friendly quotes from Wildlife officials, in various friendly hunting/fishing publications available at the local carry-outs. But Wild's book was a surprise. Instead of parroting the party line from commercial fishing interests, or praising Animal Damage Control--oh, excuse me, they call themselves "Wildlife Services" now--over in the Department of Agriculture, he presents a clear-minded informative picture, with the natural and cultural history of cormorants in the US and their conflicts with commercial interests since the coming of Europeans, including the impact of DDT, historical changes in Great Lakes fish populations, the development of depredation orders to circumvent the intent of the Migratory Bird Treaty, etc. He concentrates on the Great Lakes and the catfish aquaculture of the South, but also treats the actions of Canadian wildlife officials. Wild does not evade the difficult questions, and he is not doctrinaire. I recommend his book as a fair-minded look at the cormorant-killing controversy. These birds are now returning to their nesting sites. If you are a recreational birder and prefer not to think about it, don't worry---you can't hear or see the shooting on West Sister Island just north of the Magee Bird Trail this spring....too far offshore. Bill Whan Columbus ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]