Double-crested Cormorant

Adults are mostly dark blackish with a coppery sheen on the back and wings. They feature a bare orange-yellow throat pouch and striking turquoise-blue eye rings during breeding season. Juveniles are brownish-gray, paler on the breast and throat.

Dark body, hooked bill, orange-yellow facial skin, and turquoise-blue eyes (in breeding adults).

Length: 70–90 cm (28–35 in), Wingspan: 114–123 cm (45–48 in), Weight: 1.2–2.5 kg (2.6–5.5 lbs).

Generally silent away from the breeding colony, but produces low-pitched grunts, growls, and throat-rattling sounds at nesting sites.

Primarily fish, occasionally consuming amphibians, crustaceans, and aquatic insects. Forages by diving from the surface and pursuing prey underwater.

Inhabits coastal areas, estuaries, bays, lakes, and large rivers, usually with access to trees or rock structures for roosting.

Partial migrant. Northern populations migrate south to ice-free waters for the winter, while southern populations are year-round residents.

Builds bulky stick nests in trees, on cliffs, or on the ground on islands. Lays 3 to 4 pale blue-green eggs. Both parents incubate and feed the young.

Neotropic Cormorant (smaller with a different tail-to-body proportion) and Anhinga (sharper, dagger-like bill and longer tail), though the Double-crested Cormorant is distinguished by its bulkier build and orange throat pouch.

Acts as an apex predator in aquatic food webs, helping to regulate fish populations and indicating the overall health of aquatic ecosystems.

Least Concern, with stable or increasing populations.

Look for them near coastlines, lakes, and rivers. They are frequently spotted drying their wings on docks, pilings, or rocks.

Unlike most waterbirds, cormorants do not have fully waterproof feathers. This adaptation allows their feathers to absorb water, reducing buoyancy and making them exceptionally efficient underwater hunters, but requires them to sunbathe with outstretched wings to dry off.