Indian Cormorant

(Phalacrocorax fuscicollis)

Size(60-63cm): It is a large Cormorant larger than the Little Cormorant but smaller than the Great Cormorant.

Area: Widespread over much of the region except the North and North-West.

Habitat: Several Fresh Water and Salt Water Bodies.

My two words: This specific Cormorant is found only in India, Thailand, Cambodia and Myanmar.

This Cormorant has a bronze brown-black plumage. The Breeding Plumage is metallic black with distinctive short white-tufts. The non-breeding plumage is browner and the bird develops a yellow patch of bare skin around the throat.

The young birds are similar to the young of Great Cormorant with Dull-Brown upperparts and pale underparts.

It is the most slim and slender billed of all the Cormorants found in India.

Both sexes are alike.

The bluish-green eye is a distinctive feature which separates it from the very similar Little Cormorant. Also the Little Cormorant has a flat head and the Indian Cormorant has a rounded head.

Like all other Cormorants, Fish constitutes a major part of their diet.

They generally Fish in large groups where some birds would corner the fish and the others take turns catching and relishing them.

Breeding Season is from July-February depending on the weather conditions of the area. They nest usually in colonies along with Storks, Herons and other Cormorants.

Their current IUCN status is ‘Least Concern’.

~Arjun Basandrai