Crested cormorant: photo, description, lifestyle

Crested cormorant, or Phalacrocorax aristotelis (lat.), Is the smallest of all species considered. These are amazing birds with special distinctive habits. They are individual in their way of fishing, as well as in the adoption of various postures during the mating season. But there are similar signs that determine all cormorants. For example, a nesting place, a place of residence and others.

Description

Excellent helps to get acquainted with what looks like a crested cormorant, photo. They can be seen in our article. The bird is the smallest among all cormorants. The length of her body does not exceed 80 cm, and the wingspan is a meter. In weight, birds never gain more than 2 kilograms, even in a period of abundant and affordable food.

Black cormorants have a corresponding shade of feathering with a greenish tint. During the mating season, as well as throughout the nesting time, the appearance of the bird changes - on its head appears a small crest of feathers that rise up.

Cormorants have a long beak. In the beginning, it has a pink hue, and towards the end it turns yellow. The skin around the eyes is emerald, but near the base of the beak it is yellow.

The abdomen is dark, but only in adults. Young males and females are lighter. In addition, the nestlings may have shades on the main plumage, which is never observed in adult cormorants.

Spread

Globally crested cormorant lives everywhere, where only there is a sea coast. Unlike other similar and related species, it can not live near water bodies with fresh water. It is distributed throughout the Atlantic coast, right up to the Iberian Peninsula. Also it can be found in the south-west of Africa.

In the territory of the Russian Federation cormorants are found on the Kola Peninsula, as well as in the north and east of the Black Sea. Near this reservoir on the rock of Parus there is a critical habitat of the species. In general, the bird can be found throughout the southern part of Russia.

Crested cormorant can also be seen in the Crimea. On some coasts, they normally refer to close proximity to a person, and there is an opportunity to discern them personally, and quite close.

Food

Speaking of what cormorants feed on, it is necessary first to consider the method of catching food. It is diving. Therefore, if the pond is heavily polluted, then the cormorant simply can not get food for itself.

The bird feeds mainly on fish. Usually it is gerbil, smurida, labial and the like. Very rarely, when the cormorant is hungry, it can afford to eat a small crustacean animal. But on an ongoing basis, they can not eat, because the digestive system can not cope.

Reproduction

During the mating season, the crested cormorant becomes very beautiful, photos can confirm this. Nests of birds are located in rocky crevices or ledges with a canopy. They create them from branches and dry algae. Their nests are massive enough to be done so that the hatched babies feel comfortable.

The marriage period comes in the middle of spring, less often in March. In one clutch there can be up to 5 eggs of pale blue color. The incubation process lasts almost a month, after which chickens without plumage and with dark skin appear on the light. They are also blind, they can open their eyes only after 2 weeks.

Plumage in toddlers appears on the 20th day. First it's fluff. Then it gradually gives way to coarser feathers.

After a month and a half, the chicks are fully fledged and ready to leave the nest. Despite the fact that the laying of eggs can reach 5 pieces, the chicks remain smaller, a maximum of three. They begin to fully exhaust after 3-4 months.

During the nesting period, adults will not fly far from the colony. Therefore, to feed themselves, they will need the presence of fish near the shore. This factor negatively affects the conservation of the species.

Lifestyle

Crested cormorant is not such a bird that leads a single life. Usually he settles in colonies. The ideal habitat is the rocky coast of the sea coast. But the cormorants do not refuse to create colonies on small islands.

Wintering of the bird takes place in the sea, in the immediate vicinity of the nests. Usually cormorants do not fly deep into the mainland, but sometimes it happens. On land, they simply will not be able to feed, so there is no point in moving away from the sea.

If the bird finds suitable living conditions, then she will never start looking for another option. This means that cormorants lead a sedentary lifestyle. Their migration and nomadic movement can be due only to the fact that the reservoir is too polluted.

Crested cormorant in many countries is an endangered species. This is due not only to the fact that previously the bird was caught in large quantities. The fact is that habitats vary according to climatic and temperature regimes. Some do not have enough food, again because of human activities. Therefore, it is necessary to exert maximum efforts in order to preserve this species.