Neotropic Cormorant

About the Neotropic Cormorant

A slim, long-tailed waterbird, the Neotropic Cormorant is glossy blackish overall with a small yellowish throat patch, often neatly edged in white on breeding birds. Noticeably smaller and more slender than the Double-crested Cormorant it sometimes mixes with, it rides low in the water with just its snaky head and neck showing before slipping under to chase fish.

Neotropic Cormorants dive and pursue fish and other aquatic prey underwater, then return to a perch to stand with their wings spread wide, drying feathers that are not fully waterproof. Sociable birds, they gather in numbers and often perch in rows on snags, pilings, and dead trees over the water.

In Texas the Neotropic Cormorant is common across much of the state year-round, on lakes, rivers, ponds, and coastal waters alike.

A note from behind the lens: a line of cormorants drying their wings on a snag makes a strong, graphic image. Work the low light of morning or evening, catch a bird with wings fully spread or lifting off with a fish, and use the water for reflections.