English: Scientific Name: Phalacrocorax carbo

Common Name: Great cormorant French: Grand Cormoran; German: Kormoran; Spanish:

            Cormorán grande;

Other names: Pelecanus carbo Linnaeus, 1758; black shag; large cormorant; black cormorant; great black cormorant; Family: Phalacrocoracidae › Suliformes › Aves › Chordata › Animalia Species author: (Linnaeus, 1758) Phylum: Chordata Order: Suliformes Higher classification: Phalacrocorax

DID YOU KNOW !!! • Great Cormorants are excellent swimmers and pursue

        prey underwater using its feet rather than its wings.

• These birds are very sociable and colonies of up to

        20,000 birds have been reported.

• This is one of two species trained by human fisherman in

       Japan to help them fish. It has been known to swallow 
       small pebbles allowing it to dive more easily.

• A group of cormorants has many collective nouns,

       including a "flight", "gulp", "rookery", "sunning", and 
       "swim" of cormorant

Description: The Great Cormorant is almost entirely black in plumage, apart from a white and yellow chin and a small white patch on each thigh (absent in winter). The bill is grey and the legs and feet are black. Young birds resemble the adults but are more dusky-brown.

Similar species: The Great Cormorant can be distinguished from the noticeably smaller (58 cm - 63 cm) Little Black Cormorant, P. sulcirostris, which is completely black and has a thinner bill.

Distribution: Great Cormorants are probably the most widespread member of the cormorant family with a range that includes India, North America, Europe, Africa, China, Southeast Asia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Australia. It occurs throughout most of Australia but is more numerous in the south-east and south-west.

Habitat: In spite of its preference for extensive areas of permanent freshwater, the Great Cormorant is not confined to these and is often observed on coastal inlets and estuaries. The great cormorant birds are seen in both inland and coastal water bodies. They are found in estuaries, lagoons, creeks, tidal flats, marshes, swamps, fish ponds, lakes and streams.

Like other cormorants, the Great Cormorant feeds mainly on fish, supplemented in freshwater by crustaceans, various aquatic insects and frogs. The Great Cormorant is an excellent swimmer and captures its food in shallow underwater dives, normally lasting up to one minute. Underwater, it swims and pursues prey using its feet but not its wings. Outside of the breeding season small groups are formed although birds are often seen fishing alone.

Breeding: Great Cormorants are sociable birds and around breeding time they form colonies of about 2 000 birds, with colonies of up to 20 000 birds being reported. Breeding can occur at any time depending on food supply. Both sexes build the nest, which is a large structure of sticks placed in a low tree or on the ground. Both parents also incubate the eggs and care for the young. The great cormorant birds breed during April to June in temperate regions. They appear to breed year-round in tropics. The nest is constructed as a platform on trees. In some places they nest on the ground. The clutch has three to four eggs.

Feeding habits These cormorant birds mostly feed on fish and sometimes also feed crustaceans, molluscs and amphibians. They dive to catch the prey and surface to swallow it.

Movement Patterns

The great cormorant species in temperate regions move southwards for wintering. The birds in the tropical and subtropical regions are mostly Sedentary.