CormorantsCormorants Index Australasian Darter Black-faced Cormorant Great Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) Little Black Cormorant (Phalacrocorax sulcirostris)
The Little Black Cormorant (Phalacrocorax sulcirostris) is a small, slender black cormorant. They have a long tail, thin bill, dark facila skin, a greenish sheen to the back and a slender grey hooked bill. In the breeding season they have a glossy patterned appearance. The adults have fine white flecks on the head and neck and the green tinge becomes more bronze. The adults are between 60-65 cm long, with a wingspan of up to 105 cm.
The Little Black Cormorant are strong fliers and will feed by pursuit-diving, spying the prey under the water surface from the air, then bringing the prey to the surface, before swallowing. They are mainly found in freshwater wetlands and sheltered coastal waters, especially lakes, reservoirs, rivers, bays and inlets. They are often seen congregating in large colonies and sometimes will fly in V-shaped formations.
As their feathers are not waterproof, the Little Back Cormorants are regularly seen perched with their wings outstretched to dry after fishing.
The male and female Little Black Cormorant are identical in plumage. The immature birds have brown and black plumage. In the adult, the iris green, whilst the iris in the juvenile is brown.
- Scientific classification
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Chordata
- Subphylum: Vertebrata
- Informal: Gnathostomata
- Class: Aves
- Order: Pelecaniformes
- Suborder: Sulae
- Family: Phalacrocoracidae
- Genus: Phalacrocorax
- Subgenus: infrageneric Phalacrocorax
- Species: Phalacrocorax sulcirostris
Footnote & References
- Phalacrocorax (Phalacrocorax) sulcirostris (Brandt, 1837), Little Black Cormorant, Atlas of Living Australia, https://bie.ala.org.au/species/Phalacrocorax (Phalacrocorax) sulcirostris
CormorantsCormorants Index Australasian Darter Black-faced Cormorant Great Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) Little Black Cormorant (Phalacrocorax sulcirostris)
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