Cormorant fishing
These old Chinese Man paddle down the river just after dark on bamboo rafts with a light on the front. 6-9 cormorants accompany every raft,the cormorant has a string tied around its throat so its not possible to swallow the larger fish.Yes animal cruelty but
Time and time again the dived into the water and came up with a small fish, which they juggled then swallowed… so they got the lion’s share of the catch. Occasionally one would come up with a larger fish and not be able to swallow it. Once a cormorants neck was bulging the old Man would haul the cormorant in with a stick and “milk” the fish out of it’s neck. No real discomfort for the bird. Occasionally a female would jump onto the raft for a rest, and a male would hop on and do some sort of territorial/courting display. The old Man were having none of this and quickly swatted them off the raft into the water with his paddle. None to gently, but not to roughly either.
We parked on the shore and got to take photos of the birds as they sat on us. My tip is, don’t look a the birds. Ayesha eyed one and it promptly pecked her nose scaring the crap out of her and leaving a mark. Great. Now we have a boy scared to death of monkeys and a girl scared of birds.
