Specie's Page                                               Greater Cormorant - Large Sea Birds

Great Cormorant:     UK Status: Resident.

Habitat: Very similar looking to Shags, and difficult to tell apart, especially in the case of juvenile birds. Cormorants have a stouter bill, and the angle where the head joins the beak is shallower. The yellow patch at the base of their bill is brighter, and more intensive.

Breeding: This bird breeds in large colonies on rock ledges on cliffs, and on the ground on rocky islands. They also nest in tall trees near to the coast line, they use the same nest year, after year. Nests are large, and made of sticks woven together. Usually the is only a single clutch of three to five pale blue, or green eggs.

Comment: This bird is reasonably common on the coast lines of the British Isles. Although a bird of the coast, it is more, and more frequently being seen on inland waters, usually in small groups. These are mostly juvenile birds, Shags are not often seen inland, and are usually solitary birds.