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Phalacrocorax auritus (double-crested cormorant)

Phalacrocorax auritus
double-crested cormorants on the Straits of Mackinac, between Lake Michigan and Lake Huron

The double-crested cormorant, Phalocrocorax auritus, is the only cormorant regularly seen in the Midwest, aside from occasional stragglers and lost souls. It is a large, distinctive, blackish water bird with a very long neck, an orange to orange-yellow face, and a long, grayish bill with a hooked tip. Breeding adults develop funky, eyebrow-like tufts on their heads, and are dark brown to black—while juveniles are grayish brown to gray, especially on the neck and chest, and feature pale yellow bills. In flight, the double-crested cormorant keeps its neck slightly bent. Cormorants eat fish almost exclusively, and dive for them in shallows and mid-depth waters, snagging them with the very sharp "fish hook" on the end of their bills. Wing spreading (see illustrations below) is an often seen behavior for the double-crested cormorant, but its function is not completely understood (by humans); the prevailing, if not completely supported, theory is that the cormorants are drying out their wings after—or even while—swimming. Although mature double-crested cormorants appear black from a distance, a closer view of the plumage on their backs reveals a very beautiful pattern of black and grayish brown, reminiscent of fish scales. In central Illinois, where we live, we see cormorants regularly during migration seasons—and we see them in northern Michigan in summers.

Range of Phalacrocorax auritus

midwestern range


Phalacrocorax auritus
breeding adult with eyebrow tufts; note also the sharp "fish hook" bill

 

Phalacrocorax auritus
juvenile with pale breast and gray neck

Phalacrocorax auritus
Darren and Roger often had trouble communicating


Phalacrocorax auritus
taking flight: note slightly bent neck


Phalacrocorax auritus
wing spreading; juveniles

Phalacrocorax auritus
wing spreading while swimming; adult

 

Phalacrocorax auritus
scaly brown and black pattern on back; breeding adult


Phalacrocorax auritus
juvenile: note pale yellow beak




References: Peterson 1980, Dunn & Alderfer 2009, Sibley 2014, Retter 2017, Hatch, Vaughn & Dorr in Rodewald 2018.


Kuo, Michael & Melissa Kuo (April, 2018). Phalacrocorax auritus (double-crested cormorant). Retrieved from the midwestnaturalist.com website: www.midwestnaturalist.com/phalacrocorax_auritus.html

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