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Little Black Cormorant (Phalacrocorax sulcirostris) Alternate name(s): "Little Shag", "Little Cormorant" Aboriginal name(s): "go-go" Size: 55-65 cm; wing span 1.0 m Body mass: 0.58-1.0 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 Little Black Cormorants are small, almost all-black cormorants. The wings are scalloped dark-brown to black, while the rest of their plumage is all glossy black. Legs and feet are dark-grey, the bill is grey; the tail feathers are long and black. Little Black Cormorants have striking turquoise-blue eyes. During the breeding season they have short white nuptial plumes on the head. The plumage of juvenile Little Black Cormorants is browner than that of adults. They have dark irises.

Taxonomy, classification See Little Black 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 Little Black Cormorant is available HERE . Little Black Cormorants populate a large part of the Australian continent, New Zealand, parts of New Guinea and eastern Indonesia. Little Black Cormorants 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 not found in the arid interior of WA, the south-western NT and the western half of SA, including the Nullarbor. Little Black Cormorants can be found in basically any type of inland and estuarine aquatic habitat, but mostly in rivers and freshwater lakes, including ephemeral lakes. 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 lamp posts, drying their plumage with extended wings.

Sightings Click here for sighting information In the Narrabri area, we first saw Little Black Cormorants around a permanent waterhole 20 km South of Narrabri, in 2005. Later, in March 2009, we found a number of birds on Narrabri Lake. In subsequent years Little Black Cormorants have become permanent residents there, who only left when the lake dried up in 2014. When rivers are flowing in the area, Little Black Cormorants are regularly found by us in and around rivers. Elsewhere, we spotted Little Black Cormorants on a boat trip on the Greenough River, South of Geraldton, WA, in March 2003. Little Black Cormorants are also sighted regularly in, and reported to us by contributors from, the Great Dividing Range of both NSW and QLD and along the eastern seaboard. Little Black Cormorants are seen regularly by C. Hayne in various wetlands near Moree, NSW. R. Plumtree reports spotting Little Black Cormorants near Ensay, East Gippsland, VIC, in December 2014. J. Greaves reports first spotting Little Black Cormorants in WA at Eric Singleton Bird Sanctuary, Perth, in December 2015. They were also seen on Kangaroo Island, SA, in March 2016. P. Brown reports finding Little Black Cormorants occasionally in and around Darwin, NT. D. Dyer reports spotting Little Black Cormorants occasionally in coastal waters near Cervantes, WA. C. Pears reports that Little Black Cormorants are found at Quindalup, WA, on a daily basis. They were also found at Lake Herdsman, Perth, WA, in August 2023.

Photos

ADULT

Sex unknown

BREEDING

Near-frontal view of a Little Black Cormorant in breeding plumage; note the characteristic turquoise-blue eyes and the short white nuptial plumes on the head (photo courtesy of R. Plumtree)
[Doctors Flat Road, Ensay South, East Gippsland, VIC, December 2014]

Lateral view of a Little Black Cormorant in breeding plumage (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Centennial Park, Sydney, NSW, April 2013]

Close-up near-dorsal view of a Little Black Cormorant in breeding plumage
[Between Burren Junction and Pilliga, NSW, November 2023]

Near-dorsal view of a Little Black Cormorant in breeding plumage (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Centennial Park, Sydney, NSW, April 2013]

Dorsal view of a Little Black Cormorant in breeding plumage drying its wings (photo courtesy of A. Ross-Taylor)
[Highland Park, Gold Coast, QLD, January 2015]

NON-BREEDING

Near-lateral view of a Little Black Cormorant in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of P. Brown)
[Palmerston Golf Course, Palmerston, NT, July 2020]

Lateral view of a Little Black Cormorant in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Centennial Park, Sydney, NSW, September 2013]

Lateral view of a Little Black Cormorant in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Palmerston Golf Course, Palmerston, NT, July 2020]

Near-dorsal view of a Little Black Cormorant in non-breeding plumage looking sideways (photo courtesy of R. Plumtree)
[Doctors Flat Road, Ensay South, East Gippsland, VIC, December 2014]

Close-up dorsal view of a Little Black Cormorant in non-breeding plumage looking sideways (photo courtesy of C. Pears)
[Lake Herdsman, Perth, WA, August 2023]

Lateral view of resting Little Black Cormorants in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of C. Hayne)
[Near Moree, NSW, October 2012]

Little Black Cormorants in non-breeding plumage preening
[Near Wee Waa, NSW, September 2012]

Different lateral view of a Little Black Cormorant
[Narrabri Lake, NSW, March 2012]

Lateral view of a Little Black Cormorant diving
[Narrabri Lake, NSW, September 2010]

Lateral view of a Little Black Cormorant in flight
[Near Bourke, NSW, September 2012]

Little Black Cormorant touching down on a lake, eyed suspiciously by a Dusky Moorhen
[Narrabri Lake, NSW, September 2010]

Lateral view of a family of Little Black Cormorants hunting
[Narrabri Lake, NSW, March 2009]

Skein of Little Black Cormorants flying to their roost on a sandy beach
[Urunga board walk, Urunga Heads, NSW, September 2016]

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

IMMATURE/JUVENILE

Lateral view of a juvenile Little Black Cormorant (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Lake Broadwater, near Dalby, QLD, January 2018]

Near-dorsal view of a juvenile Little Black Cormorant (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Coolmunda Dam, Darling Downs, QLD, November 2017]

Breeding information

Breeding season: Sep - Dec

Eggs: 3 - 5

Incubation period: 27 - 28 days

Fledging age: 56 - 70 days

The breeding season depends significantly on geographical latitude. In the tropical north Little Black Cormorants breed Feb - May. Given the right conditions, they can breed any time of the year. They breed in colonies, together with other aquatic birds.

Nest

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

Type: Basket

Material: Sticks, bark, with soft lining

Height above ground: 1 - 30 m

Colony of Little Pied Cormorants nesting in a dead tree in a major storage dam; in the lower left corner two nesting pairs of Little Black Cormorants can be seen
[Split Rock Dam, near Manilla, NSW, August 2008]

Eggs

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

Size: 49 x 33 mm

Colour: Light blue-green

Shape: Tapered oval

Behaviour

Social behaviour: Communal

Mobility: Dispersive

Elementary unit: Flock

Little Black Cormorants not only breed in colonies, but they also hunt in packs.

Mob of Little Black Cormorants hunting in a pack (photo courtesy of C. Pears)
[Quindalup, WA, August 2026]

Fish depleted... pack of Little Black Cormorants moving on (photo courtesy of C. Pears)
[Quindalup, WA, August 2026]

Food, Diet

Like all other members of the Phalacrocorax family, Little Black Cormorants feed on fish and/or crustaceans. We have seen flocks of them hunting in a pack, trapping fish by pushing towards them underwater in a semi-circle.

Little Black Cormorants hunting in saline water (photo courtesy of P. Brown)
[Darwin, NT, July 2018]

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.

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