BJ's Birding Lessons - Part 12 - Cormorants

[gemfyre]

Cormorants are those birds you always see by waterways hanging themselves out to dry. For some strange reason a cormorant's feathers lack the waterproof oiling that birds like ducks have, so after a dive for a feed they must dry their feathers out by holding out their wings. Many people refer to cormorants as shags, at the moment, Australia has no shags (but the names change regularly, older people still call Little Black Cormorants, Little Shags and things like that). There are however actual shags elsewhere in the world. Really, there probably isn't a difference between a cormorant and a shag, just like doves and pigeons and egrets and herons are essentially the same thing.

The Perth area has four species of Cormorant and one species of Darter, which is a close relative.



Great Cormorant - Phalacrocorax carbo


Photo by julien of Birdforum.

According to Wikipedia, the Great Cormorant is also known as the Great Black Cormorant, Black Cormorant and Black Shag in other parts of the world (see, this is why there are Latin names). The Great Cormorant is the biggest cormorant in the Perth area. There used to be a large breeding colony at Booragoon Lake but most of these birds have moved on, pushed out by increasing numbers of Australian White Ibis. There is a barge on Herdsman Lake which is a popular nesting spot, but it has been moved a lot recently, thus displacing the birds. They can still reliably be seen at Herdsman Lake. There a few things to look out for when IDing a Great Corm -
- Large, black cormorant.
- Pale face (yellow in breeding season).
- Slight crest in breeding season.
On hot days watch out for gular fluttering, where the bird flutters the skin of it's throat to keep cool.

Little Black Cormorant - Phalacrocorax sulcirostris


Photo by Andy T of Birdforum.

You'll often find Little Black Cormorants winging their way up the Swan River but you can spot them at lakes too. The "LBC" is like a smaller version of the Great Cormorant, but note that it is completely black, with a pretty turquoise eye as showcased in the above photo.

Little Pied Cormorant - Phalacrocorax melanoleucos


Photo by smp of Birdforum.

The "LPC" is the most common cormorant in the Perth area. If there is a body of water, changes are a Little Pied is sitting on it somewhere, either fishing or drying its wings. It also hangs around farm dams in the country. I find the LPC has an overall "cute" look (I actually use this as part of my differentiating it from Pied Cormorants, but "cute" isn't exactly an objective way to describe a bird). So, what does it look like?
- Black on top, white underneath.
- Yellow bill.
- Black feathers reach down the forehead to the bill in front of the eyes.
- Hangs around freshwater.

Pied Cormorant - Phalacrocorax varius


Photo by Tony Brown of Birdforum.

The Pied Cormorant, naturally, looks a lot like the Little Pied Cormorant. The main thing to remember is that the Pied Cormorant is predominately marine (at least around Perth). The black and white cormorant you see at the beach is most likely to be a Pied Cormorant, and the black and white cormorant on the river or on a lake is likely to be a Little Pied Cormorant (this rule doesn't work all the time though). Good places to spot Pied Corms are Woodman Point and Trigg Beach, sitting on rocks just offshore. Apart from where they like to accumulate, how else does a Pied Cormorant differ from a Little Pied Cormorant?
- Larger in size.
- Coloured skin on the face, a Pied Corm in full breeding regalia has a face that is yellow at the top, blue in the middle near the eye, and pink on the gape.

Australasian Darter - Anhinga melanogaster


Photo by smp of Birdforum.

The Darter is technically not a Cormorant, but it is a close relation and has the same habit of sitting around with its wings out to dry. Darters are often called Snakebirds due to their long necks and their style of swimming with just the neck above water. When IDing a Darter also look for -
- Straight, pointed beak. One fishing technique involves stabbing fish with this weapon.
- Brown with white flecks in the wings.
- Male is dark overall with a white streak over the face, females have a white belly.
- They have a habit of soaring high like raptors, but the long neck gives them away.
Darters also have a loud, harsh "kar kar kar ka-ka-ka-ka" call. Once you learn it you'll never forget it.

Comments

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

For some strange reason a cormorant's feathers lack the waterproof oiling that birds like ducks have

Physiologically, this makes a cormorant less buoyant and thus better suited to underwater diving. Ducks bob and rarely dive, and when they do, the air that clings to their waterproofed feathers makes diving extremely time-consuming - they could never effectively catch fast moving prey under the water.

Cormorants don't have this problem because they're not waterproofed, and actually sink a lot faster and thus are more streamlined and fighting less against air bringing them to the surface. It's the difference between a human being diving with floaties attached to their arms, and another not. :)

The price of being able to catch their food underwater quickly and efficiently; is that they must have non-waterproofed plumage, and be able to sun/dry their feathers.

[rdmasters.livejournal.com]

The barge at Herdie is actually a dredge. It was built by the Creepy Crawley makers back in the 70s to cut the isolation channels around the edge of the lake.

There are signs that it is being recommissioned for another round of dredging.

A great summary of the cormorants and relatives, too.

[leemur.livejournal.com]

You forgot to mention that the Cormorant, or Common Shag, lays it's eggs in a paper bag.

[leecetheartist.livejournal.com]

I saw a black faced cormorant at Herdie a few years ago.

[gemfyre.livejournal.com]

Black-faced? You sure? That's way out of their range and they're a marine cormorant.

[leecetheartist.livejournal.com]

I was just as surprised as you!