Great Cormorant

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Alternative Name: White-breasted Cormorant ^[1]

Photo by Nora
Photographed: Melton, Melbourne, Australia

Phalacrocorax carbo

Distribution

Almost worldwide; absent from Antarctica, South America and much of North America. In North America found north of Nova Scotia in breeding season.

Winters south to Florida along the coast. Also winters in small numbers in Lake Ontario.

Taxonomy

Some authorities consider the White-breasted Cormorant of Africa to be a separate species Phalacrocorax lucidus (Lepage, 2007)^[2].

Subspecies^[1]

There are 6 subspecies:

• P. c. carbo:

• Northern Europe and northern North America; winters to Gulf coast, north-western Africa

• P. c. novaehollandiae:

• Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand and Chatham Islands

• P. c. sinensis:

• North-central Europe to southern China; winters to south-eastern Asia and Indonesia

• P. c. hanedae:

• Honshu Island (Japan)

• P. c. maroccanus:

• Coastal north-western Africa (Morocco to Mauritania)

• P. c. lucidus:

• Africa south of the Sahara and Cape Verde Islands

Behaviour

Vocalisation

<flashmp3>Phalacrocorax carbo (song).mp3</flashmp3>
Listen in an external program

References

1. Clements, JF. 2009. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2009. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019.
2. Avibase

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Great Cormorant. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 2 May 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Great_Cormorant

External Links

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