Brandt's Cormorant - BirdForum Opus

Urile penicillatus

Phalacrocorax penicillatus

Photo © by Fulmar
La Jolla, San Diego County, California, USA, 10 February 2004

Identification

Immature
Photo © by Joseph Morlan
Half Moon Bay, California, USA, 25 August 2020

27.6-31.1 in (70-79 cm)

• Black body
• White plumes on neck and back in breeding season
• Pale tan throat framing to blue throat patch during breeding season
• Long, hooked bill
• Medium length tail
  

Juvenile: brownish-black with pale brown blaze across chest.

Similar Species

Photo © by katastrofa
Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, 3 December 2019

Pelagic Cormorant is smaller with thinner bill, thinner neck, smaller head and longer tail. In breeding season Pelagic has dark crest and white flank patches.

Distribution

Pacific coast of North America from southern Alaska to Baja California.

Taxonomy

This is a monotypic species^[1].

Habitat

Open sea, rocky islands for breeding.

Behaviour

Breeding plumage
Photo © by mrcolin2u
La Jolla, California, USA, February 2008

Diet

The diet includes fish.

Breeding

Nests are large and untidy, made of terrestrial plants or seaweed, placed on the ground or on rocky outcrops.

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, S. M. Billerman, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2019. The eBird/Clements Checklist of Birds of the World: v2019. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. Information from the All About Birds website, https://www.allaboutbirds.org/, © Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Brandt's Cormorant. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 7 November 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Brandt%27s_Cormorant

External Links

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