“ | He [Toothless] flew across the beach in his usual, untidy, lopsided fashion, shrieking a few insults along the way at any cormorants that looked smaller than him. | ” |
— How to Train Your Dragon |
Cormorants are birds mentioned as residing on the Isle of Berk in How to Train Your Dragon.
Description[]
Cormorants, also sometimes called 'Shags', are medium to large sea birds belonging to the Family Phalacrocoracidae. Typically they have a dark coloration, but a few species are more brightly colored. Cormorants and primarily fish eaters, and dive into the water to catch them. Their beaks a long with a hook at the end to obtain their fishy goal.
Two species living in Scandinavia are the Great cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) and the European shag (Phalacrocorax aristotelis).
Function[]
Cormorants have no mentioned function in the Book series. It is possible historic peoples ate these shore birds and their eggs if the opportunity arose.
Some cultures - mostly from Eastern Asia - historically utilized trained cormorants to fish for them. In Norway the Great cormorant is a game bird, but also a sign of good luck if they appear near villages in the North of the country.
Appearances[]
How to Train Your Dragon[]
Toothless harasses some cormorants on the Long Beach while going out to train to fish.