The Cape

cormorant Phalacrocoracidae is a family of approximately 40 species of aquatic birds commonly known as cormorants and shags. Several different classifications of the family have been proposed, but in 2021 the IOC adopted a consensus taxonomy of seven ge ...

or Cape shag (''Phalacrocorax capensis'') is a bird

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to the southwestern coasts of

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

. It breeds from

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

south to southern Western Cape. In the nonbreeding season, it may be found as far north as the mouth of the Congo, and also extends up the east coast of South Africa as far as

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...

. In the 1970s, the breeding population was estimated as over 1 million in Namibia alone. However, the IUCN now classifies it as "Endangered" due to a very rapid decline in the population over the last three generations. The Cape cormorant is an almost entirely glossy black bird, though in breeding condition it has a purplish tinge and a few white plumes on head, neck, and cloacal areas. Its gular skin is a deep orangey yellow; unusually for a cormorant, its Lore (anatomy), lores are feathered. The bird's wing is about 240–280 mm in extent, and it weighs 800–1600 grams, with little sexual dimorphism. Cape shags commonly forage in flocks, taking schooling fish from mid-water, such as pilchards, anchovy, anchovies, and sand eels. Its prey are typically much smaller than those of the sympatric bank cormorant. Their major predators are black-backed jackals, which take the occasional adult while it is roosting, and nest-site predators such as great cormorants, great white pelican, eastern great white pelicans, and kelp gulls. Like a number of other related cormorant species, the Cape cormorant is placed by some authorities (e.g. Johnsgaard) in the genus ''Leucocarbo''.

Gallery

File:Cape Cormorant RWD2.jpg, left, Cape Town, South Africa File:Cormorant flock at Boulders Beach, South Africa.jpg, centre, Cape cormorants at Boulders Beach, South Africa

References

*Johnsgaard, P.A. (1993). ''Cormorants, darters, and pelicans of the world''. Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution Press.

External links

Cape Cormorant page
from the Animal Demography Unit at the University of Cape Town * Cape Cormorant
Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1002574 Phalacrocorax, Cape cormorant Birds of Southern Africa Birds described in 1789, Cape cormorant