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Neotropic Cormorant

Phalacrocorax brasilianusOrder: PELECANIFORMESFamily: Cormorants (Phalacrocoracidae)
Neotropic Cormorant Head Illustration

Head

  • Bill Shape: Hooked Seabird
  • Eye Color: Color poorly documented in non-breeding adults, but believed brown; Adults, emerald green to light blue-green.
  • Head Pattern: Plain
  • Crown Color: Black
  • Forehead Color: Black
  • Nape Color: Black with white tufts.
  • Throat Color: Black with strip of white at base of bill.
  • Cere color: No Data
Neotropic Cormorant Body Illustration

Body

  • Length Range: 64-66 cm (25-26 in)
  • Weight: 1270 g (44.8 oz)
  • Size: Large (16 - 32 in)
  • Color Primary: Black, Sheen or Iridescence
  • Underparts: Black
  • Upperparts: Black
  • Back Pattern: Mottled
  • Belly Pattern: Solid
  • Breast Pattern: Solid
Neotropic Cormorant Flight Illustration

Flight

  • Flight Pattern: Strong direct flight with powerful rapid wing beats.
  • Wingspan Range: 102 cm (40 in)
  • Wing Shape: Rounded-Wings
  • Tail Shape: Rounded Tail
  • Tail Pattern: Solid black
  • Upper Tail: Black
  • Under Tail: Black
  • Leg Color: Black
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Family
Species Phalacrocorax brasilianus
Length25 - 26 Inches
Wingspan40 Inches

Neotropic Cormorant

Neotropic Cormorant: Small, long-tailed cormorant. Black upper and lowerparts may show blue gloss. Long hooked yellow-gray bill with yellow "v" shaped gular pouch edged in white. Legs and feet are black. Feeds on fish, crustaceans and amphibians. Flies low over water with strong rapid wing beats.

● Song: "r'rauh", "ruuh'aah"

● Foraging & Feeding: Neotropic Cormorant: Feeds on variety of fish, frogs, tadpoles and other aquatic organisms. Dives in pursuit of prey from water's surface. The only cormorant known to occasionally plunge dive from above water's surface. Cooperative feeding has also been documented.

● Breeding & nesting: Neotropic Cormorant: Monogamous and colonial. Male chooses nest site and brings materials to female who builds nest in the fork of a tree, rarely on ground. Nest is made of sticks, twigs, grasses, and leaves. Both sexes incubate two to six pale blue eggs for 23 to 26 days and tend young who become independent around 11 weeks.

● Similar species: Neotropic Cormorant: Double-crested Cormorant is larger and heavier looking, has a shorter tail, a yellow-orange throat pouch, and a green sheen on head, neck, and underparts. Brandt's Cormorant is seen on the West Coast, has a shorter tail, and a blue throat pouch during breeding season.

Flight Pattern

Strong direct flight with powerful rapid wing beats.
Neotropic Cormorant Body Illustration
● Range & Habitat: Neotropic Cormorant: Fairly common in U.S. range. Found primarily in Louisiana, Texas, and along the Rio Grande valley into New Mexico. Inhabits saltwater bays and inlets, and freshwater lakes and ponds.
BreedingMonogamous, Colonial
PopulationCommon in range
MigrationMost do not migrate
Weight44.8 Ounces