Brandt's Cormorant

Taxobox
name = Brandt's Cormorant
status = LC | status_system = IUCN3.1


image_width = 200px
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Aves
ordo = Pelecaniformes
familia = Phalacrocoracidae
genus = "Phalacrocorax"
species = "P. penicillatus"
binomial = "Phalacrocorax penicillatus"
binomial_authority = (Brandt, 1837)

The Brandt's Cormorant ("Phalacrocorax penicillatus") is a strictly marine bird of the cormorant family of seabirds that inhabits the Pacific coast of North America. It ranges, in the summer, from Alaska to the Gulf of California, but the population north of Vancouver Island migrates south during the winter. Its specific name, "penicillatus" is Latin for a painter's brush (pencil of hairs), in reference to white plumes on its neck and back during the early breeding season. The common name honors the German naturalist Johann Friedrich von Brandt of the Academy of Sciences at St. Petersburg, who described the species from specimens collected on expeditions to the Pacific during the early 1800s.

Brandt's Cormorants feed either singly or in flocks, and are adaptable in prey choice and undersea habitat. It feeds on small fish from the surface to sea floor, obtaining them, like all cormorants, by pursuit diving using its feet for propulsion. Prey is often what is most common: in central California, rockfish from the genus "Sebastes" is the most commonly taken, but off British Columbia, it is Pacific Herring. Brandt's Cormorant have been observed foraging at depths of over 40 feet.

During the breeding season, adults have a blue throat patch. This species nests on the ground or on rocky outcroppings.

References

* Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern