Brandt's Cormorant
From WikiBird
Contents |
Size
Length: ??cm (??in), Wingspan: ??cm (??in)
Field Marks
Large, dark waterbird with a long, hooked bill and long tail. Long, thin neck, gular region blue with yellowish lower border. Adult: entirely dark plumage except for thin, white plumes on neck. Breeding adult: Blue throat patch. Immature: Very dark plumage. Sexes similar.
Similar species
Loons are similar on the water, but lack hooked bills. Most loons hold their bills level while swimming while cormorants hold theirs angled upwards. All adult cormorant species in the U.S. are separable by the shape and color of the gular areas. No other species has a blue gular region with a yellowish border. The Brandt's Cormorant shares its Pacific Coast range with the Double-crested and Pelagic Cormorants. Adult Double-crested Cormorants have orange gular regions and Pelagics have red ones. Immature Double-cresteds is paler underparts and Pelagic is darker. The Pelagic Cormorant is noticeably smaller and slimmer.
Sounds
Feeding & Behavior
Feeds either singly or in flocks, adaptable in prey choice and undersea habitat. It feeds on small fish from the surface to sea floor by pursuit diving using its feet for propulsion. Prey is often what is most common, in central California rockfish from the genus Sebastes is the most commnly taken, but off British Columbia it is Pacifc Herring. Often perches with wings spread to dry them.
Habitat & Nesting
Nests on the ground.
Range
Inhabits the Pacific coast of North America. It ranges, in the summer, from Alaska to the Gulf of California, but the population north of Vancouver Island migrates south during the winter.
Resources
