Great Cormorant

Great Cormorant, breeding plumage, Nova Scotia, August

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Great Cormorant; adult breeding plumage; Great Spoon Island, Maine.

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1. Description
2. Sound
3. Conservation Status
4. Other Names
5. Cool Facts
6. Full detailed species account

The Great Cormorant is the most widely distributed of all the cormorants, breeding in Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia. In North America, however, it is restricted to just the Atlantic Coast, breeding in only a few colonies from Maine to Greenland.

Description

• Large, dark water bird.
• Long body and long neck.
• Medium-sized bill is blunt or hooked at tip.
• White patch at base of bill.

• Size: 84-90 cm (33-35 in)
• Wingspan: 130-160 cm (51-63 in)
• Weight: 2600-3700 g (91.78-130.61 ounces)

Sex Differences

Sexes look alike; males slightly larger and with larger bill.

Sound

Makes guttural calls at nesting sites, and fewer at roosts; otherwise usually silent.

Conservation Status

Populations greatly reduced in 19th century, probably from direct persecution; increased since early 20th century. Numbers in northwestern Atlantic not changing rapidly at present.

Other Names

Grand Cormoran (French)
Cormorán Grande (Spanish)
European Cormorant, Cormorant (British) (English)

Cool Facts

• The Great Cormorant feeds principally on bottom-living fish of many kinds that it catches by surface-diving to depths of 35 meters (115 feet), although usually it dives less than 10 meters (33 feet).
• The scientific name of the Great Cormorant, Phalacrocorax is from the Greek ?bald-headed raven,? and carbo is Latin for ?charcoal? (black).

Sources used to construct this page:

Hatch, J. J., K. M. Brown, G. G. Hogan, and R. D. Morris. 2000. Great Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo). In The Birds of North America, No. 553 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA.