Adults: Above, black. Below, black. Throat, white or grey. At start of breeding, dense patches of white nuptial plumes on sides of rump and upper neck, and a prominant erectile median crest on back of head. Face and throat, bare yellow skin. Eye, green. Bill, grey, buff at base. Feet, black.
Immatures: General plumage sooty with irregular white flecks on underparts. Eye, green, but brown in juveniles.
Other Names (World)
Great Cormorant, Great Black Cormorant, Large Black Cormorant, Black Cormorant, Common Cormorant, Common Black Cormorant, European Cormorant, White-breasted Cormorant, Black Shag
Afghanistan (B), Albania (B) (NB) (P), Algeria, Angola, Armenia (B) (NB), Australia (B), Austria (B) (NB), Azerbaijan (B) (NB) (P), Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus (B) (NB), Belgium (B) (NB) (P), Bermuda, Bhutan, Bosnia and Herzegovina (B) (NB), Botswana, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria (B) (NB) (P), Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada (B), Chad, China (mainland), Congo [The Democratic Republic of the], Congo [The Democratic Republic of the], Côte dIvoire, Croatia (Local Name: Hrvatska) (B) (NB), Cyprus (NB) (P), Czech Republic (B) (NB), Denmark (B) (NB) (P), Egypt, Eritrea, Estonia (B) (NB) (P), Ethiopia, Faroe Islands (NB), Finland (B) (NB) (P), France (B) (NB) (P), Gabon, Gambia, Georgia (B) (NB), Germany (B) (NB) (P), Ghana, Gibraltar (NB), Greece (B) (NB) (P), Greenland (B) (NB), Guinea, Guinea-bissau, Hong Kong (China), Hungary (B) (NB) (P), Iceland (B) (NB), India, Indonesia, Iran [Islamic Republic of] (B) (NB) (P), Iraq (NB) (P), Ireland (B) (NB), Israel (NB), Italy (B) (NB), Japan, Jordan (NB) (P), Kazakhstan (B), Kenya, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan (B), Laos, Latvia (B) (NB) (P), Lebanon, Lesotho, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Lithuania (B) (NB) (P), Luxembourg (B) (NB), Macedonia [The Former Yugoslav Republic of] (B) (NB), Malawi, Malaysia, Malta (NB), Mauritania (B), Moldova [Republic of] (B) (NB), Mongolia (B), Montenegro (B) (NB), Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands Antilles (B) (NB), New Caledonia (B), New Zealand (B), Nigeria, North Korea, Norway (B) (NB), Oman (NB), Pakistan, Palestinian Authority Territories (NB), Philippines, Poland (B) (NB) (P), Portugal (NB), Qatar, Romania (B) (NB) (P), Russia (Asian) (B), Russia (Central Asian) (B) (P), Russia (European) (B) (NB) (P), Rwanda, Saudi Arabia (NB), Senegal, Serbia (B) (NB), Slovakia (Slovak Republic) (B) (NB) (P), Slovenia (NB), Solomon Islands (B), Somalia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain (B) (NB), Sri Lanka, St Pierre and Miquelon (B) (NB), Sudan, Swaziland, Sweden (B) (NB) (P), Switzerland (B) (NB), Syrian Arab Republic, Taiwan (China) (NB), Tajikistan, Tanzania [United Republic of] (B), Thailand, Tunisia (NB), Turkey (B) (NB), Turkmenistan (B), Uganda (B), Ukraine (B) (NB) (P), United Arab Emirates (NB), United Kingdom (B) (NB), USA (B), Uzbekistan (B), Vietnam, Western Sahara (B), Zambia, Zimbabwe.
Vagrant to Cape Verde, Christmas Island, Liberia, Liechtenstein, Micronesia [Federated States of], Norfolk Island, Northern Mariana Islands, Papua New Guinea, Seychelles.
Rarity Status
Currently this species is not classified as a rarity in this country OR information has not been updated.
Population
Estimated population is 1,400,000 - 2,900,000 (2010).
Status LC
Persecution by the aquaculture industry, disturbance by coastal windfarms and sucseptibility to avian influenza and Newcastle disease are the main threats.
Food
Fish, especially flatfish and eels, and yabbies.
Voice
Mostly silent. A loud, guttural 'agock-agock-agock' at breeding and roosting sites. Male loud and raucous during courting at nest. Female has soft hiss, but voice becomes male-like after egg-laying.
Nest
Nest of sticks, seaweed and debris, in a tree, on a bush or on the ground. In colonies.
Eggs (Guide)
4, sometimes 5 or 3; chalky blue; oval; about 60 x 36 mm. Incubation: about 28 - 29 days; by both sexes.
Young
Fledge in about 7 weeks.
Subspecies
May form superspecies with Japanese Cormorant (Phalacrocorax capillatus). Subspecies lucidus often considered separate species. Subspecies novaehollandiae may be good species and alternatively replaced by further subspecies carboides (Australia) and steadi (New Zealand area). Subspecies hanedae may be better considered synonymous with sinensis.
The following 8 subspecies are recognised:
carbo (Linnaeus, 1758) - Breeds in northern Europe south to British Isles, faroes and Iceland, in North America, southern Greenland, Newfoundland, Gulf of St. Lawrence, Nova Scotia.
sinensis (Staunton, 1796) - Breeds Europe in northern France, Belgium, Netrherlands, Germany, Denmark, coasts of the Baltic Sea, Balkan states, coasts of the Black Sea and Sea of Azov, in Asia from Turkey to eastern Siberia, Tibet, Sri Lanka, Mongolia, China, Korea, south-eastern Asia.
hanedae Kuroda, Nagamichi, 1925 - Breeds Hondo, Japan. May be synonomous with sinensis.
maroccanus Hartert, 1906 - Breeds coast of north-western Africa.
lucidus (Lichtenstein, 1823) - Breeds Cape Verde Islands, along the coasts of Africa from Mauritania to South Africa. Also central African lakes. Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, White-breasted Cormorant (Phalacrocorax lucidus).
carboides Gould, 1838 - Breeds Australia.
steadi (Mathews & Iredale, 1913) - New Zealand and Chatham Islands.
novaehollandiae Stephens, 1826 - Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand and Chatham Islands.
Similar Species
Pied Cormorant (Phalacrocorax varius), in immature birds, but which are paler below, have paler bills, and a yellow mark in front of eye. Little Black Cormorant (Phalacrocorax sulcirostris), which has slim and black bill, black facial skin. In flight it also has quicker wing beats.
Compare Images
The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Pizzey, G., and Knight, E., 1997, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 19691 5
Field Guide to Australian Birds Morecombe, M., 2000, Steve Parish Publishing Pty Ltd. ISBN 1 876282 10 X
Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Simpson, K., and Day, N., 1999, 6th Edition, Viking ISBN 0 670 87918 5
Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds 1988, 2nd Edition, Reader's Digest ISBN 0 949819 99 9
What Bird is That? 1984, Revised Edition, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 14846 5
Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds 1990 - , Oxford University Press, Melbourne ISBN 0 19 553244 9
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