Field Guide to Birds of North America
Great Cormorant
Phalacrocorax carboOrder:
PELECANIFORMESFamily:
Cormorants (Phalacrocoracidae)
Bird database and its related content, illustrations and media is Copyright © 2002 - 2007 Whatbird.com
All rights reserved. No part of this web site may be reproduced without written permission from Mitch Waite Group.
Privacy Policy.
Percevia® Registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.
|
Family
|
Species
Phalacrocorax carbo
|
Length35 - 40
Inches
|
Wingspan63
Inches
|
Great Cormorant
Great Cormorant: Largest North American comorant. Black with bright yellow throat pouch bordered with white feathers. Expert swimmer, dives for fish, crustaceans. When wet holds wings in spread eagle position to dry. Strong direct flight with steady wing beats. Flies in V or straight line formation.
● Song: "curr-curr-curr", "gur-gur-gur"
● Foraging & Feeding: Great Cormorant: Dives for fish and crustaceans.
● Breeding & nesting: Great Cormorant: Three to five pale blue or green eggs incubated by both sexes 28 to 31 days in a nest of twigs, seaweed, and refuse, lined with grasses and moss on high ground.
● Similar species: Great Cormorant: Double-crested Cormorant is smaller with orange throat patch.
Flight Pattern
Strong direct flight with steady wing beats.
● Range & Habitat:
Great Cormorant: Native of the Americas and Greenland. Prefers rocky coasts with sheltered inshore waters.
|
BreedingMonogamous, Colonial
|
Population
|
MigrationMigratory
|
Weight80
Ounces
|