Neotropical Cormorant (Phalacrocorax brasilianus)
(aka Olivaceous Cormorant, Phalacrocorax olivaceus)
Olivaceous Cormorant, Cristalino River, Mato Grosso, Brazil, April 2003 - click for larger image The Neotropical Cormorant is found throughout South America and up to southern USA. See the distribution map at Birdlife International. It is found both inland and on the coast though it is rarely found very far from the coast. It is also found from sea-level up to about 4,000 metres in the Andes.

Like the Anhinga, their feathers become completely soaked during a dive which is why they are often found perched with their wings spread out to dry.

Olivaceous Cormorant, Cristalino River Mato Grosso, Brazil, Sept 2000 - click for larger image They feed mainly on fish which they sometimes catch cooperatively swimming side by side in large groups. The third photo shows a cormorant struggling with an enormous fish it had caught. It eventually succeeded in swallowing it after quite a struggle.

The first photo showing a lighter colouring of greyish brown above and a paler maxilla is of an immature bird.

Olivaceous Cormorant, Taim, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, August 2004 - click for larger image Photos 4, 5, 6 and 7 show birds in breeding plumage where there is a white line around the gular pouch and some white plumes around the neck.

Photo 9, taken in Honduras shows the sub-species P. b. mexicanus which is smaller than the nominate with a proportionately larger bill.

Olivaceous Cormorant, Caulin, Chiloe, Chile, November 2006 - click for larger image
Olivaceous Cormorant, Caulin, Chiloe, Chile, November 2006 - click for larger image
Olivaceous Cormorant, Pinguino de Humboldt, R.N., Chile, January 2007 - click for larger image
Olivaceous Cormorant, La Serena, Chile, January 2007 - click for larger image
Olivaceous Cormorant, Cachagua, Chile, January 2007 - click for larger image
Olivaceous Cormorant, Cuero y Salado, Honduras, March 2015 - click for larger image
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