[255] Phalacrocorax carbo, Cormorant

[255] Phalacrocorax carbo, Cormorant

Introduction

About forty species of cormorants are recognized worldwide although their division into genera is uncertain. We only have two species in the UK, the first two species to be named and these are generally just called the Cormorant and the Shag. All the other species have the word cormorant or shag in their name. (The distinction between the two is vague but Shags tend to be smaller than Cormorants.)

Phalacrocorax carbo, the (Common) Cormorant or Great Cormorant, is fairly common and widespread inland on or near lakes. Its other geographical subspecies have other names in India, Australia and New Zealand.

Phalacrocorax aristotelis, the (European) Shag, is less common and is seen only on or very near the sea.

Taxonomy

Kingdom – Animals

Phylum – Chordates

Class – Aves (Birds)

Order – Suliformes

Family – Phalacrocoracidae

Genus – Phalacrocorax

Scientific Name – Phalacrocorax carbo, Phalacrocorax aristotelis

Name

The Latinised Greek phalacrocorax, from phalakros-korax, means bald crow and carbo is the Latin for charcoal.

Cormorant came to English via French from the Mediaeval Latin Corvus marinus, meaning sea-raven. The name Shag may come from the shaggy nature of its crest.

The Shag’s species epithet comes from the Greek philosopher Aristotle (384-322 BC.) As with many species named after a person, there is probably no particular reason for the association.

Description

Phalacrocorax carbo is more or less the largest species of Cormorant but it varies considerably in size. In winter it is almost black all over apart from a white bill and white cheeks with a yellow patch. Their eyes are a distinctive turquoise.

They are very distinctive in flight with the legs, body, neck and head making a horizontal straight line.

In breeding plumage much of the front of the bird is white.

They feed on fish caught by swimming underwater.

They are often seen with their wings held outspread to dry them. Unlike most birds, cormorants do not have waterproof wings. (The usual waterproofing method traps air in the feathers and makes the bird too buoyant to dive deeply.)

Habitat

The Cormorant is a rare breeding bird in Britain in the summer but is a common and widespread winter visitor. It likes wetland sites especially lakes including ornamental lakes in urban areas. You may see them in the sea. The only Cormorants I have ever seen that were not on water were either on protected islands in lakes or in trees (or other perches) above water.

Phalacrocorax carbo has scattered summer, winter and year-round resident areas including northwest Europe; India and the Far East; Eastern Africa; Australia and New Zealand; and the East coast of the USA. Studies suggest that it may be a paraphyletic collection of subspecies.

Other Notes

The Cormorant is even more difficult to photograph than [273] the Great Crested Grebe because of their diving habits. If you see one on a lake you may have about two seconds to find it in your camera, zoom, focus and take a picture. When it dives you have to wait for about thirty seconds until it reappears many metres away from where you are looking.

See also

Phalacrocorax aristotelis, the Shag, is not easy to distinguish from a Cormorant at a distance but you are unlikely to get close to one. They are smaller and slimmer with a more rounded head. Breeding adults may show a small crest and have a greenish tinge to their feathers.

They are found at sea around the coasts of the British Isles, Western Iceland, Norway and Finland, the Iberian Peninsular and the Mediterranean. They breed on rocky cliffs and unpopulated islands round the coast. You are less likely to see one breeding than [149] the Puffin or the other sea birds listed in that blog.

[230] Gannet is the only other British bird in the order Suliformes.

[149] Fratercula arctica, Puffin

[149] Fratercula arctica, Puffin

Introduction

Fratercula arctica, the Puffin, is a seabird that develops an impressive coloured bill in its breeding form. Together with its relatives the Guillemot, Razorbill and Black Guillemot it is only found in remote parts of the UK when it visits to breed. There are two species of Fratercula found in the Pacific, so the formal name Atlantic Puffin may be used for Fratercula arctica.

It should not, of course, be confused with the Manx Shearwater, Puffinus puffinus.

Taxonomy

Kingdom – Animals

Phylum – Chordates

Class – Aves (Birds)

Order – Charadriformes (Sea Birds and Waders)

Suborder – Lari (Gulls, Terns, Auks, Skuas and others)

Clade – Alcoidea

Family – Alcidae (Auks including Guillemots, Murres)

Subfamily – Fraterculinae (Puffins and Auklets)

Tribe – Fraterculini (Puffins)

Genus – Fratercula

Scientific Name – Fratercula arctica

Names

Puffin was originally the name of the Manx Shearwater, which has been given the Scientific Name Puffinus puffinus. It meant puffed or swollen for the fatty, salted meat from young birds. The name transferred much later, possibly because of similar nesting habits, to the bird we now call a Puffin. Fratercula is Medieval Latin for a friar from its black and white plumage resembling monastic robes.

See text for some notes on the etymology of other birds in the Auk family.

Sea Birds

It won’t come as a surprise that there is no agreed definition of what constitutes a Sea Bird but the term can be used for birds that more or less spend their lives at sea and feed in saltwater. It normally includes the following.

• Sphenisciformes, Penguins.
• Procellariformes, Albatrosses, Shearwaters and Petrels.
• Suiformes, Gannets and some relatives but not Cormorants.
• Charadriformes, Skuas, Gulls, Terns and Auks but not waders.

Phalaropes, Divers (Loons in USA terminology,) Grebes, sea ducks, waders and Herons are normally considered to be water birds but not sea birds.

We have already met [080] Black-headed Gull, and will come later to see [195] Herring Gull, [196] Lesser Black-backed Gull, and [325] the Common Tern, all of which spend some or all of their life far from the sea in Britain.

Most true sea birds only just touch the UK when they have to land for breeding purposes.

Auks (Alcidae)

Birds in the Auk family are in some ways similar to Penguins. They are so good at swimming that they almost fly underwater. They have little need to fly and are clumsy when trying to walk on land. But they don’t have to walk. They generally nest on cliffs.

The Auk family, Alcidae, is quite small but has several levels of taxonomy. Its species have several names, generally differing between the UK and the USA. Auk, via Icelandic from Old Norse means a sea bird.

The Tribe Alcini, calles Murres in the US, include what we call the Guillemot and Razorbill.

The Tribe Cepphini, called True Guillemots in the USA, includes the Black Guillemot.

Some, like Puffins, dig burrows on the cliff top. Most of them, like Guillemots, just lay an egg on a bare rock ledge without a nest.

See below for details of some other Auk species.

Puffin

The Puffin basically spends its life at sea and feeds by diving and swimming underwater. Male and female birds look identical with a slight difference in size. We know them for their large unusually shaped black, white and orange bills, but these only appear in the mating season. The colourful outer part drops off after breeding when the birds return to the sea.

It breeds on the Atlantic coasts of Norway, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Greenland, Canada, and parts of Britain. Most of the locations it vits in the UK are Scottish islands but they are also found on the Farne Islands, Northumberland; Bempton Cliffs, Yorkshire; Skomer Island in Wales and the Scillies.

I was lucky enough to visit Fair Isle (midway between Orkney and mainland Shetland) for very close views of Puffin,

In clifftop colonies it digs a burrow and lays a single egg. Both adults catch sand eels to feed to their chicks and they are able to carry large numbers in their beaks at the same time.

When the chicks fledge, they make their way to the sea by night and will not return to land for several years.

They have historically been a source of food in some isolated parts of Iceland and the Faroe Islands. I am not sure if this continues.

Guillemot and Razorbill

These two are very similar black and white sea birds without the spectacular bill of the Puffin. They lay their eggs on cliff edges rather than in burrows. There is no actual nest and the eggs have a sort of conical shape so they do not roll off the edge.

Uria aalge is the (Common) Guillemot (UK) or Common Murre (US), also called the Thin-billed Murre. It has a long, pointed bill. Guillemot comes from a French form of the name William. Uria comes from the Ancient Greek ouriaa, an unknown waterbird. The Danish aalge is cognate with auk. Murre is of unknown origin but may be onomatopoeic.

Alca torda is the Razorbill or lesser Auk. Its large, flat bill is distinct and gives it its name. Auk and Alca both come from the Norwegian alke, and torda comes from tӧrd a Swedish dialect word. Both words refer to this species.

Both birds are gregarious and breed together. They can be seen at Bempton Cliffs in Yorkshire, where Guillemots vastly outnumber Razorbills. You are unlikely to get near to them but may discern which is which with good binoculars.

Black Guillemot

The UK distribution of Cepphus grylle, the Black Guillemot, is different and it is found mostly along the west coast of Scotland around rocky islets. It is also found on the Isle of Man and the island of Anglesey. I have seen them in Ayr harbour.

Cepphus comes from Ancient Greek kepphos, a pale waterbird mentioned by Aristotle and others. Grylle was a local dialect name for the bird in Gotland.

They are not gregarious like Guillemots and Razorbills and will spend the winter quite near to their summer breeding locations.

See Also

While you are in isolated island or cliff environments look out for these.

• [230] Gannet.
• Shag, Phalacrocorax aristotelis, a smaller much more sea-going version of the [255] Cormorant.
• Fulmar, Fulmarus glacialis, a tube-nosed Gull-like bird occasionally seen on coastal cliffs.
• Kittiwake, Rissa tridactyla, a marine Gull that occasionally nests on cliffs.