Cormorants, fluffy trees and pebbles

We have decided to start a list of things I want to know. 

This morning on the way to school my mother and I wrote down three questions about things we saw I wanted to know more about. Later, we looked them up and asked around and found some answers.  

These are my questions and the answers we have found: 

1. Why do cormorants spread their wings so much? Are they calling a friend or just drying their wings? 

My mother and I looked this up on the Internet and found out they spread their wings because they are drying them. Then Pa (he's my grandfather) gave us a bit more information. This is what he said:  "cormorants have a lot of natural oil in their feathers. They have to make sure their feathers are in very good condition because they need to be streamlined when they dive and because they spend so much time in water. So the answer may be both - they're drying their wings and examining their feathers to see that they are watertight." 

So that's what they are doing every morning when we see them on the way to school! They spend a very long time in the position of the photograph and they look quite funny. 

My Pa told us one other thing. He said that in one part of China fishermen don't catch fish. They train cormorants to fish for them! That's a bit cheeky!

2. What is that stuff that looks like cotton coming from that tree? What is the tree and what exactly is the cottony thing? 

We found out that the tree that we see every morning is called a poplar and that the cottony white stuff covers the seeds. It's a clever trick of the tree, so that the wind carries the seeds and the seeds plant all over. The cottony hairs also protect the seeds from being eaten by the birds (this is what I think, because no bird would want to eat a hairy seed, or would they?). Some people call the cotton summer snow!

3. What are pebbles? Are they made or are they found?

About pebbles, we found out that there are natural pebbles and artificial pebbles. Some are made and some are pieces of rock smoothed by the sea. But I was also saying to Mummy that maybe some pebbles are made and then found. My Pa also gave us some information about this. He said: "A pebble started as a bigger stone but the sea rolls them around and makes them small and smooth. And sometimes very pretty." It's true. I have seen some very pretty pebbles. 

If you have any ideas or you just want to say hi, please leave a comment.