Cormorants are sea birds that can be found all over the world. Many people confuse them with large gulls, mistakenly believing that it is their males. In fact, birds belong to completely different orders, and cormorants are much closer to pelicans by kinship.
Cormorants: Description
Birds are pelican-like. They have large paws with swimming membranes between the fingers, as in all waterfowl species. The body of cormorants is quite large, ranging in size from 50 centimeters to one meter. The wingspan is 80-160 cm.
They have a large body, an elongated neck and a long, slightly bent and pointed at the end, beak. They usually raise their heads slightly. On land they sit in an upright position, while the neck is bent and retracted. Birds quickly swim and fly, and on the shore they move slowly, shifting from one foot to another.
The color of cormorants is mostly black. Feathers have a metallic luster, shimmer in the sun with gold or green shades. Some species have white spots on the chest and abdomen, while others have a grayish plumage. In cormorant chicks, the color is light brown, and changes as they grow older. Sexual differences practically do not appear externally. But males, as a rule, are larger in size.
What do cormorants eat?
Cormorants are excellent divers. Under water, they are able to hold out for about two minutes, and sink to a depth of 15 meters. To prevent water from getting into the eyes, they are covered by a thin and transparent blinking membrane. The tail while swimming is lowered into the water and is used as a steering wheel.
Their beak can open very wide, allowing them to capture large prey. Birds feed on sardines, anchovies, capelin, hunt snakes, frogs, turtles and crayfish. Often, seafood, for example, shrimp and shellfish, also enters the diet.
Lifestyle
Cormorants are active during the day. Many representatives are migratory. During nesting, they settle in large groups, often in the neighborhood of terns, gulls, penguins. Sedentary species begin to look for a mate in May. Migratory cormorants arrive at the nesting site with a partner.
The bird's nest looks simple. It is made from leaves and branches, placed on the tops of trees or in coastal cliffs. The female lays one egg every few days, up to six in total. Chicks are born helpless, their parents feed them for several months, and sometimes until they are fully grown.
Cormorants mature after 2-4 years. They are born completely naked, acquiring plumage only after 30-80 days. Many species have several “outfits”. For example, large cormorants have a first mating color, a second, and then an adult.
Species and habitats
Both in hot tropical regions and in cold subarctic regions you can find cormorant. This is a typical inhabitant of reservoirs. The bird is distributed throughout the planet. It inhabits the shores of continents and distant islands, found near rivers, lakes and swamps.
Russia is inhabited by large, small, crested, Japanese, Bering and red-faced. Large in life is often called the Black Sea cormorant. He is a frequent visitor to the southern coast of Crimea and Sochi, but also to the Mediterranean, North Africa and the Middle East. They grow to 90 cm. The color is black, the neck and head are sometimes gray.
The Bering cormorant is more “fearless” and settles in cold regions. It is found in Alaska, the Kuril Islands, the Aleutian Islands, in the north of the Japanese Islands, Chukotka and Sakhalin. Adult birds have a shiny black plumage with a green and purple tint, a black beak, with red bare skin around. On the head is a crest.
Galapagos cormorant is the largest member of the family. It grows from 90 to 100 cm. But its wings are much shorter than that of other representatives of cormorants. Their length is not enough at all to lift a bird into the air, therefore the Galapagos cormorant is the only one who cannot fly. It lives only on two Galapagos islands - Isabella and Fernandin.