First we had the cute and respectful ducks. Then, we had the ever more numerous and at times mean spirited Canadian Geese. Now the Charles River has another bird fighting for top fowl along the Charles, but who is this mystery bird? Let’s start off with a little back story. I can remember a time when I used to bike around the Charles and see a lot of ducks, and the occasional Canadian Goose. Then beginning in the late 90s the population of Canadian Geese exploded at a rate if continued for the next 20 years would cause the entire Charles River bike path in Watertown, Cambridge, and Boston to be covered in Geese shit. Over the past few years I have noticed a new bird taken residence in and around the Charles. The bird had a lot of interesting characteristics; it was all black, when it swam in the river only its neck was clearly visible giving it a Lock Ness Monster type appearance, and now and then it would dive under water for about 30 seconds and reappear at a different spot in the river sometimes even clutching a small fish in its beak. This year especially, I have seen the population of these birds grow at a high rate. But, since I knew jack about birds, I was not sure what they were called. So I went to a bunch of bird websites looking at pictures of birds to no avail. Then I thought what I would call these birds and came up with Submarine Birds since they dive underwater for a long period of time. When I Googled the phrase submarine birds I found a picture of the bird I had been seeing along the river, the Double-crested Cormorant. The Cormorant apparently eats all kinds of fish and crustaceans and can fly at speeds up to 48MPH! In addition it is believed that they are having resurgence in population in North America because DDT which harms the birds is no longer used. Here are a few pictures I have taken of the birds: the first 2 are the birds standing on some yellow thingamabob in Cambridge and the last one is a picture of one Double-crested Cormorant swimming near the dock in Watertown Square.