English            -           Neotropic cormorant

Portuguese    -           Biguá

Latin               -            Phalacrocorax brasilianus

The Neotropic Cormorant, (formerly called Olivaceous Cormorant) as implied by its common names, is the only species of cormorant that can be found in just about every aquatic ecosystem in the Neotropics from just above the Tropic of Cancer to Tierra del Fuego. It can often be identified by range alone, but when overlapping with other species in the northern and southwestern portions of its range, it is obviously the smaller species.

This bird is 64 cm long with a 100 cm  wingspan. Adults males weigh from 1.1 to 1.5 kg, adult females weigh around 50 to 100 g less. Birds of the southern populations tend to be bigger than the more northerly birds. It is small and slender, especially compared to the larger, heavier-looking Double-crested cormorant. It has a long tail and frequently holds its neck in an S-shape. Adult plumage is mainly black, with a yellow-brown throat patch. During breeding, white tufts appear on the sides of the head, along with scattered white filoplumes on the side of the head and neck, and the throat patch develops a white edge. The upper wings are somewhat grayer than the rest of the body. Juveniles are brownish in colour.

Neotropic Cormorants are found in all of South and central America and in Southern parts of the USA. They are versatile birds that live around freshwater or saltwater, and even brackish water. Prefers habitats such as coastal marshes, large rivers to small streams, mangroves, high elevation Andean lakes, up to 5000m and extensive marshlands.

They feed mainly on small fish and shrimp, which they catch by diving and swimming underwater but they will also eat tadpoles, frogs, and aquatic insects. The Neotropic Cormorant is the only cormorant known to plunge-dive, which is a specific type of diving not performed from a great height. They normally begin less than half of a meter above the water. 

The Neotropic cormorant breeds in colonies. The male tries to attract the female by sitting with tail raised, bill pointed up, while raising and lowering tips of folded wings. Both sexes display by stretching neck up, bill open, waving head back and forth. The nest site is usually in live or dead bushes or trees, 3-25 feet above water; sometimes on ground on islands. Nest which is built by both sexes is a solid platform of sticks with depression at centre lined with twigs and grass. The female lays between 1 to 5. bluish white eggs. which are Incubated by both sexes for around 25-30 days. Age at first flight is not well documented but the young raised on islands are able to swim and dive at 8 weeks. The nestlings are fed by the adults for the first  11th week and are independent after 12 weeks. The Neotropic cormorant raise only one brood per year.

The Neotropic cormorant has an extremely large range and in areas the population trend appears to be increasing as well as spreading north into the USA. Therefore, this species is classified as a “species of least concern”.

Photo No. 1 was taken at Parque Tingüi - Curitiba - Parana

Photo No 2 was taken at Ilha do Frade - Vitoria - Espirito Santo