UJI, Kyoto Prefecture--When masters call out to a flock of Japanese cormorants, the birds return to the bank of a man-made pond, their throats bulging with fish. The scene resembles the ...

Locals have had enough of the kawa-u, or great cormorant. Descending on Miyajima's protected forests in huge flocks, the snaky-necked diving birds — who've become known locally as "the black ...