Saturday, April 30, 2016

Little Cormorants, Underwater Swimmers

Like never before I saw number of Little Cormorants during my recent visit to Vedanthangal Bird Sanctuary, about 80 km from here. These birds are very commonly found in the water bodies around Chennai, but not in numbers that’s uncountable. Vedanthangal invites lot of birds from across the globe but this time little cormorants took large numbers into the account. 

Little Cormorants

The Little Cormorants are a member of the cormorant family of seabirds, slightly smaller than the Indian cormorant; it lacks a peaked head and has a shorter beak. The bird sized between 50 to 55 cm in length and weighing up to 530 grams is widely distributed across the Indian Subcontinents and extends east to Java, where it is sometimes called Javanese cormorant.

Little Cormorants @ Vedanthangal Bird Sanctuary

The bird looks entirely back in the breeding season but the plumage is brownish and the throat has a small whitish patch in the non-breeding season. It forages single or sometimes in loose groups in lowland freshwater bodies, including small ponds, large lakes, streams and sometimes coastal estuaries. Like other cormorants, it is often found perched on the waterside with its wings spread out after coming out of the water.

IMG_1112

Little cormorants produce low roaring, grunting and groaning sounds comprising low pitched ah-ah-ah and kok-kok-kok’s. They swim underwater to capture fishes and propel themselves using their webbed feet. But the captured fishes are often brought up to the surface to swallow them and during that time others birds including their fellow cormorants, painted storks and egrets may attempt to steal them. 

Linking this post for Saturday Critters

12 comments:

eileeninmd said...

Hello Jeevan, awesome post and photos on the Little Cormorant. I see their cousins here! Thank you for linking up and sharing your post. Happy Saturday, enjoy your weekend!

TexWisGirl said...

how wonderful!

Sandhya said...

They don't look beautiful but the pictures have come out well. I too saw them in quite large numbers when I had been to Vedanthaangal, a couple of years back!

GreenComotion said...

Hello Jeevan,
Beautiful series! I love the photos of the Cormorants, the commentary and your brand new awesome banner!!
Have a Happy Day!
Peace :)

Devilish Angel said...

Lovely birds...

Arti said...

Gorgeous captures of the pretty birds. It is nice meeting Little Cormorants here and knowing so much about them. Thank you!

Destination Infinity said...

Had I seen this bird, I'd have mistaken it for a Common Indian House Crow :P

Destination Infinity

Betsy Banks Adams said...

Oh how special. So glad you got to see so many Cormorants... We have similar ones in our country...

Happy May 1st.... Amazing how quickly it got here. I will publish a blog post tomorrow.

Hugs,
Betsy

Optimistic Existentialist said...

I love these photos, Jeevan! Cormorants are such beautiful and magnificent birds!

Locomente said...

Beautiful pictures as always... Thanks for sharing!

Saurabh Chawla said...

Beautiful pics!

L. D. said...

I like to watch PBS when the show these birds. They are an interesting and different kind of bird.