This last cold front brought a bunch of cormorants aka water turkeys down the flyways to my ponds. These birds just seemed to be passing through, or at least didn't return after an unfriedly welcome.

Water turkeys eat about 1.5 to 2 pounds of fish per day per bird. They prefer shad but will eat anything they can get in their mouths, including LMB and bluegill and Tilapia.

Do the math and its easy to see that a few birds overwintering on your pond will easily decimate your forage as well as injure and eventually kill even your larger fish.

They have an incideous method of "kiss and tell", i.e. if one bird finds your pond to its liking, it will tell others and they will tell others and pretty soon you've got dozens of them muching down on your fish. They can completely decimate your forage in short order when they attack in numbers.

From experience, it pays to not allow even one bird to get comfortable on your pond. They are Federally protected, but in Texas a permit is available to enable the pond owner to exercise lethal force on them. I've found from experience, however, if you make them very uncomfortable, they will usually find someone else's pond or nearby lake.

Thanksgiving turkeys are great but those water turkeys are not the friend of the pond owner.

right on meadowlark, we have a huge problem with them, I've seen them eat bass upto 3/4 lb with no problem. They get in our catfish ponds too.

there is a permit to shoot them legally??? how does one attain said permit?

Brandon, it's called a Depradation Permit. I've never applied for one but contacting your Game Warden or County Extension should give you the answer. However, by the time you figure that you need one, you have had a lot of damage.

I used to go to Lakes of Danbury fishing and they really had a water turkey problem. They told me the birds would "learn" when the gun patrols would make their rounds and hide out until it was all clear. After that, I learned that what they told me was totally true cause they did the same to me while I was a weekender absentee. They figured out when I was around and when not around. Never forget coming up one Friday afternoon to find probably 90% of the fish in one pond all clustered under and around a pier/walkway. The fish had been terrorized by water turkeys and were after any hiding place they could find. Amazing sight.

Watch out for the water turkeys, if you care about your pond's forage fish.

They are invading my local pond right now. there are about 30 of them on that 5 acre pond. I'm worried the small shad population there will get destroyed.

Trust me...it will be severely impacted quickly, if you don't get them to move on. That's about 60 pounds of shad and/or other fish coming out of there every day....over 350 pounds a week...not many ponds can withstand that for very long without severe impacts.

If you figure forage at $10 per pound...it doesn't take long to add up to some significant funds.

Yeah, I worked for Danbury Fish Farms for 8 Years! They would come in anywhere from 300-500 birds a day. And they are quick learners. We would shoot from just after day light until late evening making runs ever hour or so.
When were you out there last?

You can find the permit here:

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/business/permits/land/wildlife/#cormorant

word of advice, read every letter in the document and follow the regulations closely because it's likely they will check-up on you and the fines are steep.

Last time I was there was about 10 years ago. We took a bunch of Angleton school kids fishing there in a pond that LOD designated for them.

I bought a lot of fish from them back then also, to stock a 4 acre pond.

I have a lake house on a 100 plus acre lake in east texas and the water turkeys start to show up around November, We have a state permit to kill them, and I must say we do just that. Last year I think the total was around 500, and so far this year its about 100 or so, the last time I checked. I will be heading to the lake next week with 4 boxes of #4's... wish me luck

Go get them. Bring some Icy Hot for your shoulder.

Is it this one?:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_turkey

or this one?:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cormorant

Just wondering trying to keep my eyes looking...

Its the double-breasted cormorant. When you see it, there's no mistaking it.

I see