|
Deepseawaters
Home Deep
Sea BirdsRed-faced Cormorant
Red-faced Cormorant
Common Name: Red-faced Cormorant
Scientific Name: Phalacrocorax urile
Description
The
Pelagic Cormorant and the Red-faced Cormorant
are two of the three species of cormorants that nest in Alaska.
They differ from the third cormorant species, the Double-crested
Cormorant, in that they are strictly marine birds. Cormorants
are part of a large family of seabirds
that includes pelicans, boobies, tropicbirds, and frigatebirds.
They are diving birds that use their large webbed feet to
swim underwater in search of food. They like to eat a wide
variety of foods but their favorite is fish that live close
to the ocean floor. Their feathers are different from other
diving birds in that they are not naturally waterproof. In
order to waterproof their feathers, cormorants must spend
a lot of time preening or grooming their feathers with oil
they collect on their bills from a gland at the base of their
tail
Unlike
many other seabirds, cormorants do not like to stray far from
their nesting colonies on land. There they build large nests
out of whatever plant material they can find and are not above
stealing it from one of their unsuspecting neighbors. Often
one bird of the pair will present a piece of grass or seaweed
to its mate as a way of strengthening their bond.
Pelagic
Cormorants nest on coastal headlands or islands throughout
Alaska and the Asian North Pacific. Red-faced Cormorants nest
in a much smaller region of the North Pacific that stretches
from northern Japan through the Aleutian Islands. Both species
use their own excrement to cement their nests onto small ledges
of vertical cliff faces.
Pelagic
and Red-faced Cormorants are not only similar in habits, but
also their appearance. During the winter they look nearly
identical except the Red-faced Cormorant is slightly larger.
However, in the spring the birds begin to dress-up for the
breeding season and the two species can be more easily separated
by their appearance. Pelagic Cormorants develop a patch of
dark red skin around their eyes and base of the bill. They
often develop long white plumes on their necks. Red-faced
cormorants develop a patch of reddish-orange skin around their
eyes that extends up onto their foreheads and the base of
their bill turns light blue. Both species have two crests
on their heads but these are much more obvious on Red-faced
Cormorants.
Identification Tips
Length: 28 inches
Wingspan: 48 inches
Sexes similar
Large, dark
waterbird with a long, hooked bill and long tail
Long, thin neck
Gular region
is blue and bordered bright red onto the forehead
Often perches
with wings spread to dry them
Adult
Entirely dark
plumage except for white flank patch
Two crests on
head
Thin, white
plumes on neck
Bill is partially
yellow
Immature
Very
dark plumage
Similar Species
Loons
are similar on the water, but lack hooked bills. Most loons
hold their bills level while swimming while cormorants hold
theirs angled upwards. All adult cormorant species in the
U.S. are separable by the shape and color of the gular areas.
No other species has a small blue gular region with a bright
red forehead. The Red-faced Cormorant overlaps
the range of the Pelagic
Cormorant only in Alaska. In the breeding season,
the Red-faced Cormorant has a red forehead and a pale bill.
Other cormorants lack the white flank patch.
|
