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Animal Themes
Endangered Animals Theme Unit
Birds

Flightless Cormorants

Flightless Cormorants
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 4 to 8
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   9.74

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    bishop, fishery, prior, terrestrial, uncertain, commercial, introduction, occasionally, hence, species, fully, preen, untangle, waterproof, unique, fate
     content words:    Galapagos Islands, El Niño, During El Niño

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Other Languages
     Spanish: Los Cormoranes de las Galápagos

Flightless Cormorants   
1     There are many flightless birds in the world. Ostriches, emus, cassowaries, kiwis, and penguins are all examples of bird species that have lost their ability to glide across the sky. Even though these birds cannot fly, they do have wings fully covered with feathers. The lack of this common feature is what makes the flightless cormorant so unique!
 
2     As the name suggests, the flightless cormorant is another bird species in the world that cannot fly. If you have the chance to visit the Galapagos Islands, you may have the privilege of seeing a flightless cormorant outstretching its wings and basking under the sun. At first glance, you may think somebody must have recently plucked feathers off the bird's wings! Indeed, the flightless cormorant has sparse feathers covering its wings, making you wonder who just made a cruel joke on the poor bird?
 
3     Flightless cormorants dress in black. They have black feathers, black webbed feet, and black beaks. Restricted to two islands of the Galapagos Islands, flightless cormorants stand up to 40 inches tall and weigh less than 9 pounds. Albeit both penguins and flightless cormorants choose to trade the skill of flying with swimming, they have different styles – penguins like to use their wings as peddles, and flightless cormorants prefer to give out powerful kicks with their feet. Flightless cormorants usually stay within 330 feet from the coastline. They feed on octopuses, eels, and fish.

Paragraphs 4 to 9:
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