Is this a double-crested cormorant? (1 Viewer)

[r2didi2]

I saw this cormorant at Widewater Lagoon in Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex and on looking at all sorts of birding resources, it doesn't appear to look like a "normal" cormorant! Do you think it might be a double-crested cormorant?

Thanks
Didi

 

[lou salomon]

it is a "normal" cormorant, didi

 

[Macswede]

Nice picture though!

 

[London Birder]

what's not normal about it? (yep, nice pic)

 

[r2didi2]

what's not normal about it? (yep, nice pic)

Hi, thanks for the replies ) In answer to your question, the pictures and videos in BWPi (for example) show that the species "normal" cormorant(!), i.e. <i>Phalacrocorax carbo</i>, has white skin surrounding the yellow skin adjacent to its bill.

However, the cormorant in my photo doesn't show the white skin and since BWPi (and other resources) show that the double-crested cormorant has an absence of the white skin, that is why I wondered if the bird in my photo was a double-crested. I guess I was hoping I had struck gold, given that resources say the double-crested cormorant is a very rare vagrant in the UK!

Thanks for your help
Didi

 

[Katy Penland]

Hope you guys don't mine a Yank chiming in here, but if I saw this bird in the US, I'd've called it a Double-crested (Phalacrocorax auritus) for a couple of reasons:

The amount of yellow on the face, and the area behind the bill that gives that yellow patch a "rounded corner" appearance where it curves around the gape. Even juvenile Cormorants (P. carbo) have white on the face which Didi's bird isn't showing. The more slender-looking bill with a less pronounced "hump" at the end of the upper mandible (sorry, don't know what that part is called) also seems better for D-C than C.

 

[Frenchy]

Hope you guys don't mine a Yank chiming in here, but if I saw this bird in the US, I'd've called it a Double-crested (Phalacrocorax auritus) for a couple of reasons:

The amount of yellow on the face, and the area behind the bill that gives that yellow patch a "rounded corner" appearance where it curves around the gape. Even juvenile Cormorants (P. carbo) have white on the face which Didi's bird isn't showing. The more slender-looking bill with a less pronounced "hump" at the end of the upper mandible (sorry, don't know what that part is called) also seems better for D-C than C.

The massive intrusion of feathering on the gular (the bit under the chin that extends from the throat towards the bill) is enough to ID this as a Cormorant. The 16 tail feathers are probably also significant, but without my literature to hand i can't remember how many Double-crested Cormorants have. You could probably ID this to race (sinensis of carbo) on the shape of the facial skin patch, but again, can't actually remember the differences. The lack of white is not an issue for young cormorants.

Hope this helps, and good birding.

 

[JANJ]

Hi all.

I don´t think this is a Double-crested Cormorant.
The rounded corner that curves around the gape as in Didis image is in fact typical for nominate carbo, and atypical for DCC. However on sinensis (S: and E: Europe) which breeds in the S. Baltic, the 'corner of the gape is not curved in under the gape as on the subject bird, but straight, as it is- more or less in DCC, seen here:

http://www.roysephotos.com/DoubleCrestedCormorant.html

http://www.backyardbirdcam.com/gallery/cormorant-dc.htm

Also notice on the above images, best viewed in the 1st pic. that DCC lacks feathering on the underside of the bill base (!) whereas on all Cormorants there´s a wedge of featherings, best viewed from underneath but seen in the subject bird and here:

http://www.featheredfotos.com/spppages/divers/great cormorant.html
http://digiscopingukbirds.homestead.com/files/cormorantsvga.jpg

Usually DCC has a yellowish lower mandible, usually whitish on Cormorant Regarding the whitish patch behind the yellow bare skin, wich is usually qite prominent on C, whereas on DCC it´s usually restricted to a narrow pale line, next to the bare skin.
Didis bird doe´s show a trace of a larger pale patch
Cormorant often has yellow lores, exept in breeding plumage and younger birds.
The real clincher is the lack og feathering on the underside of the bill.

JanJ

 

[Katy Penland]

Thanks for that, Frenchy and JanJ. The photos Jan pointed out are much more diagnostic than my reliance on the Collins guide. Very instructive to see the differences between DCC and C. :t: