Cormorant

Cormorant translates the Hebrew shalak (plunging or darting down) in Leviticus 11:17 and Deuteronomy 14:17, where it appears in the list of unclean birds. The diving behavior implied by the root word suits the cormorant, a large coastal bird that plunges into water to catch fish. However, the identification is uncertain — the same Hebrew term may refer to another water bird such as the fisher owl or gannet. The Septuagint uses a different identification than the King James translators.

The cormorant also appears in prophetic contexts as a bird of desolation. Isaiah 34:11 and Zephaniah 2:14 describe desolated cities and ruins inhabited by the cormorant (or pelican in some versions) alongside the owl and bittern — birds of solitary waste places whose presence marks the complete abandonment of what was once a thriving human settlement. Psalm 102:6 uses a similar bird as an image of the psalmist's own desolation and loneliness in affliction.