Cormorants in Thailand—Sukhotai (1 Viewer)

[Tom St]

Photos taken on 4th November 2022 at Sukhotai Historical Park. Can someone help me with IDing these? Is there more than one species here? Thanks!

 

[Butty]

Looks like a mixture of great cormorant (e.g. yellow gular skin) and Indian cormorant (slender head, longish fine bill).

 

[Tom St]

Sorry for the late reply and thanks for your answer, Butty. I just checked relative abundances of cormorant species in Sukhothai province. Accordingly to eBird data, they are 121:42:1 for Little:Indian:Great Cormorants. So apparently, Great Cormorants are quite rare there. Based on this, my best guess for the individuals with yellow gular skin and white beneath is Indian Cormorants. They were panting in the heat, which might make them appear less slender-necked. The seemingly smaller ones might be Little Cormorants, or just Indians from weird angles.
A shame that the photos turned out so shitty!

 

[Earnest lad]

Sorry for the late reply and thanks for your answer, Butty. I just checked relative abundances of cormorant species in Sukhothai province. Accordingly to eBird data, they are 121:42:1 for Little:Indian:Great Cormorants. So apparently, Great Cormorants are quite rare there. Based on this, my best guess for the individuals with yellow gular skin and white beneath is Indian Cormorants. They were panting in the heat, which might make them appear less slender-necked. The seemingly smaller ones might be Little Cormorants, or just Indians from weird angles.
A shame that the photos turned out so shitty!

To complement the previous reply, I think some of the birds are also Little Cormorants. The broad base to the bill giving the bill somewhat conical appearance. Please see my crops of your image below. I hope this is helpful.

 

[Tom St]

@Earnest lad The ones you cropped are actually the ones I thought were Indians 😅 because of yellow gular skin and white beneath. But I have to agree with your point about bill shape. And now I‘m wondering if I am not misinterpreting an ivory-pinkish colour as yellow. This would make them Little indeed!
Again, a shame the photos are so bad!

 

[Oregon John]

Tom, I'm in Bangkok and often need to distinguish between the very common little and the somewhat less common Indian. Bill size and shape is often deciding, especially if view of other parts is not good. If I were submitting an eBird checklist, I'd opt for little for all of the birds in your photos.

 

[stevethehydra]

I think the size comparison with (presumably Little) egrets rules out Great Cormorants here. I'm not familiar with Indian Cormorant but they also look structurally odd for GC for me (long tail in particular, but head/neck shape/posture too).

 

[Earnest lad]

@Earnest lad The ones you cropped are actually the ones I thought were Indians 😅 because of yellow gular skin and white beneath. But I have to agree with your point about bill shape. And now I‘m wondering if I am not misinterpreting an ivory-pinkish colour as yellow. This would make them Little indeed!
Again, a shame the photos are so bad!

I think you can get Little Cormorants with white under the bill. Please see attached Little Cormorant picture from wikipedia. And I guess ivory colour can seem yellowish at times.