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Red-faced Cormorant
last update: Mar 24, 2009 02:52 PM
Latin name: Phalacrocorax urile
Population: 200,000 individuals
Cites classified: Least Concern
Where found: Far north of the Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea
Age/ life expectancy: 6 years
Wingspan: 110-120 cm
Length: 65-75 cm
Weight: 1.5-2.3 kg
Mating/Breeding: Breeds in mixed colonies with other seabirds, on a wide or narrow ledge on a cliff or steep slope above water. Pairs are monogamous and long-lived. They lay three to four eggs, May to June, in a nest mound made of grass, seaweed, moss, and debris, with deep depression in the center. Eggs are incubated for 34-38 days by both birds.
Eggs: 2-4 blue or blue-green eggs with a white, chalky deposit
Hibernation: winter area is the same as breeding area
Feed on: fish, especially sculpins, pollock, and sand lance
Predators: river otters as well as various corvids and bald eagles
Colour/Body: The adult bird has glossy plumage that is a deep greenish blue in colour, becoming purplish or bronze on the back and sides. In breeding condition it has a double crest, and white plumes on the flanks, neck and rump, and the bare facial skin of the lores and around the eyes is a bright orange or red, giving the bird its name; although the coloration is less vivid outside the breeding season, the red facial skin is enough to distinguish it from the otherwise rather similar Pelagic Cormorant. Its legs and feet are brownish black.
