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4

Great Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) Alternate name(s): "Black Cormorant", "Black Shag", "Large Black Cormorant", "Great Black Cormorant" Aboriginal name(s): Race "carboides": "bigargin" [eastern bundjalung]; "karbanga", "kardakart" (WA); "muloora" Size: 70-102 cm; wingspan: 1.2-1.6 m Weight: 1.2-3.0 kg

Australia: Family Group 4 Family Group 4 Table Australian Pelican Red-tailed Tropicbird White-tailed Tropicbird Great Frigatebird Lesser Frigatebird Australasian Gannet Masked Booby Red-footed Booby Brown Booby Darter Great Cormorant Little Black Cormorant Little Pied Cormorant Pied Cormorant Black-faced Cormorant Imperial Shag Thumbnails page Family group table Index of bird names Habitat pages Key plants Birds home page

Similar species

Description     Classification     Distribution     Sightings     Photos     Breeding     Nest     Eggs     Behaviour     Food     Call/s

Physical description Click here for a physical description Great Cormorants are large cormorants (details of their size and weight depend on race; birds of nominate race "carbo" found in north-eastern Canada are the biggest and heaviest, while birds found in Europe and Arabia of race "sinensis" are the smallest and lightest). Their plumage is almost all-black. The wings are scalloped dark-brown to black. During the breeding season Great Cormorants have white nuptial plumes on their hindneck, white cheeks and chin and a white thigh patch. These are absent in eclipse. The tail feathers are long and black. Their irises are turquoise; the bill is grey, legs and feet are dark-grey. Juvenile Great Cormorants have a grey front.

Taxonomy, classification See Great Cormorant at Wikipedia .

Range, habitat, finding this species Click here for information on habitat and range The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found, based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to ebird.org . The global distribution of the Great Cormorant is available HERE . There are several races of Great Cormorant that altogether have a very wide-ranging distribution. They are present in most of Europe (except large parts of Scandinavia), in parts of Marocco, Tunisia, Asia Minor, the coastline of much of the Middle East, parts of southern and mid-latitude Asia, including Japan and Taiwan, the river Nile valley and parts of eastern Africa, coastal Arabia and the East coast of North America. There is also a separate population in Australia, New Zealand and parts of New Guinea (for details see, e.g., Wikipedia). Great Cormorants, race "carboides", inhabit basically the entire coastal fringe around Australia, including Tasmania, and the northern tropics, plus the eastern half of the continent. This includes the coastal waters out to the continental shelf and the Torres and Bass Straits. They are only occasionally, after significant rainfall, found in the arid interior of WA, the central and south-western NT and western SA. Great Cormorants can be found in any type of aquatic habitat (both fresh water and saline), from the open sea and estuaries to rivers, freshwater lakes and large dams. Where to look? How to find this species? It is important for all birds spending a lot of time under water, such as cormorants and darters, to dry and seal their plumage. They will often be seen on perches near the water's edge, such as rocks, dead branches, poles or lampposts, drying their plumage with extended wings.

Sightings Click here for sighting information Race "carboides" Great Cormorants, race "carboides", were first found by us at Glenlyon Dam, a water storage dam in southern QLD, in October 2007. Subsequently they were found at Brewarrina, western NSW, in October 2010, and various other locations in inland NSW, e.g. to the West of Moree. A small flock of Great Cormorants, race "carboides", was spotted by us at Goran Lake, an ephemeral lake about 30 km South of Gunnedah, NSW, in October 2011. B. Hensen reports spotting Great Cormorants, race "carboides", in Centennial Park, Sydney, NSW, where they are regularly found breeding. R. Plumtree reports spotting a Great Cormorant near Swifts Creek, East Gippsland, VIC, in November 2014. Next we spotted a Great Cormorant, race "carboides", at the Urunga board walk, Urunga Heads, NSW, in August 2015. Race "sinensis" Great Cormorants, race "sinensis", were spotted by us in Oman and also in Europe.

Photos

Race "carboides"

ADULT

BREEDING

PAIR

Pair of Great Cormorants in breeding plumage mating on their nest; in such cases it is clear which of the two is the male and the female... (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Centennial Park, Sydney, NSW, May 2018]

Pair of Great Cormorants in breeding plumage after mating on their nest; in such cases it is clear which of the two is the male and the female... (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Centennial Park, Sydney, NSW, May 2018]

Sex unknown

Near-lateral view of a Great Cormorant in breeding plumage on its nest, with a clear view of its nuptial flush, i.e. the warty skin on the chin, the orange cheek patch and the bristly nuptial plumes on the neck (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Centennial Park, Sydney, NSW, April 2013]

Lateral view of a Great Cormorant in breeding plumage on its nest, with a clear view of its nuptial flush, i.e. the warty skin on the chin, the orange cheek patch and the bristly nuptial plumes on the neck (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Centennial Park, Sydney, NSW, April 2013]

Lateral view of a Great Cormorant in breeding plumage, with a clear view of the characteristic facial pattern, including the turquoise-blue eyes
(photo courtesy of R. Plumtree)
[Near Swifts Creek, East Gippsland, VIC, November 2014]

NON-BREEDING

Sex unknown

Lateral view of a Great Cormorant drying its plumage
[Urunga board walk, Urunga Heads, NSW, August 2015]

Lateral view of two Great Cormorants
[Walgett, NSW, October 2010]

Close-up near-dorsal view of a Great Cormorant in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Flat Rock, Ballina, NSW, January 2023]

Close-up dorsal view of a Great Cormorant (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Botanical Garden, Melbourne, VIC, October 2017]

Dorsal view of a Great Cormorant drying its plumage after fishing in a swamp
[MacPhersons Road Swamp, Wyong, NSW, July 2013]

Lateral view of a Great Cormorant in flight
[Goran Lake, NSW, October 2011]

Dorsal view of a Great Cormorant in flight
[Brewarrina, NSW, October 2010]

Great Cormorant seen from underneath
[Goran Lake, NSW, October 2011]

Covey of Great Cormorants in flight (photo courtesy of C. Hayne)

Direct comparison of a Great Cormorant, left, with a Little Black Cormorant, right (photo courtesy of C. Hayne)
[Near Moree, NSW, September 2013]

Great Cormorants and Pied Cormorants can be seen to fly together in one skein
[Near Moree, NSW, June 2013]

Direct comparison between - left to right - a male Australasian Darter, a Little Black Cormorant, a Great Cormorant, and a Little Pied Cormorant
[New Quipolly Dam, near Quirindi, NSW, November 2019]

IMMATURE/JUVENILE

Close-up lateral view of a juvenile Great Cormorant (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Centennial Park, Sydney, NSW, October 2017]

Race "sinensis"

Photos of race "sinensis" were obtained by us in Oman and also in Europe.

Breeding information

Breeding season: Sep - Jun

Eggs: 3 - 5

Incubation period: 28 - 31 days

Fledging age: ca. 49 days

The breeding season of Great Cormorants depends on geographical latitude. In principle they can breed at any time of year. Chicks will leave the nest after about 4 weeks, staying on nearby branches until they fledge at age ca. 7 weeks.

Nest building: Male (& female)

Incubation: Female & male

Dependent care: Female & male

Nest

"bungobittah", "lar", "malunna", "jindi" [bundjalung] = nest [Aboriginal]

Type: Basket

Material: Sticks

Height above ground: 0 - 10 m

Coastal nests can be on the ground, on rocks, while inland nests are usually built in trees. In coastal river estuaries nests can be at low height, e.g. in mangrove.

Near-lateral view of a Great Cormorant in breeding plumage with nuptial flush on its nest, with a clear view of the warty skin on the chin, the orange cheek patch and the bristly nuptial plumes on the neck (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Centennial Park, Sydney, NSW, April 2013]

Great Cormorants on their nest with with 3 chicks inside (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Centennial Park, Sydney, NSW, June 2019]

Great Cormorants on their nest with with 3 chicks inside (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Centennial Park, Sydney, NSW, June 2019]

Eggs

"boyanga", "booyanga", "derinya", "dirandil", "koomura", "mirk", "ngampu", "nooluk", "pateena", "pum-pum" = Egg; "dirundirri" = eggs [Aboriginal]; "gawu" = eggs [gamilaraay]

Size: 63 x 41 mm

Colour: White, with green or blue tint

Shape: Long tapered oval

Behaviour

Social behaviour: Communal

Mobility: Dispersive

Elementary unit: Pair/flock

During the breeding season Great Cormorants can be seen performing nuptial displays.

Near-lateral view of a Great Cormorant in breeding plumage in nuptial display on its nest (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Centennial Park, Sydney, NSW, April 2013]

Dorsal view of a Great Cormorant in breeding plumage in nuptial display on its nest (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Centennial Park, Sydney, NSW, May 2017]

Food, Diet

Like most other members of the Phalacrocorax family, Great Cormorants feed primarily on fish.

Call(s)/Song

For this species we have recorded the following call(s)/song. The interpretation of their meaning is our own; comments and suggestions for improvement are welcome.

grtcorm_20170701.m4a	carboides (NW NSW)	Arrival	© MD
grtcorm_dw_20170815.m4a	sinensis (Poland)	? (flock)	© DW
grtcorm_dw_20170815_1.m4a	sinensis (Poland)	? (flock)	© DW

More Great Cormorant sound recordings are available at xeno-canto.org .

These pages are largely based on our own observations and those of our contributors. The structure of these bird pages is explained HERE. For more salient facts on any bird species please refer to a field guide.

Would you like to contribute photos or sound recordings to this site? If interested, please CLICK HERE. Credits to contributors are given HERE.

Disclaimer: Comments are always welcome. We give no guarantee that the information presented on these pages is always correct or up-to-date. External links are marked as such and we take no responsibility for the contents of external pages. All images on this site are protected by copyright & used by permission of the respective owners. If you wish to reproduce them or any of the material presented on this web site, please contact us: We hereby acknowledge the original custodians of the land which is described on these pages, including the Gomeroi/Gamilaraay people of the North-west Slopes and Plains of NSW, and the traditional owners of other lands and nations within this country. We acknowledge elders past, present and emerging. Sovereignty was never ceded.          Last updated: Thu, 2 March 2023, 19:07 +00:00