Great Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo)

Scientific Classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Pelecaniformes
Family: Phalacrocoracidae
Genus: Phalacrocorax
Species: P. carbo

Identification
Great Cormorants are those big, black, rather ugly birds which you often see standing upright on a post, tree or rock with their wings held out to dry. Apart from divers which are smaller with shorter, fatter necks, more gentle heads and less brutish bills, Cormorants could only be mistaken for the smaller but closely related Shags. In summer Cormorants are easily distinguished by conspicuous white patches on their throats and thighs. In winter though you have to rely on differences in shape since Cormorants have a bigger, more triangular head, a flatter crown and more massive bill. Diagnostically the bare yellowish skin around a Cormorant’s bill extends around its eye. Juveniles are browner and, unlike young Shags, have a variable amount of white on their bellies. In flight, Cormorants resemble geese but have long diamond shaped tails and tend to fly much higher above the water than Shags.

Habitat
Breeds on rocky headlands and islands, and also, increasingly, by inland lakes, marshes and reservoirs. Winters on coasts, estuaries, rivers, lakes and reservoirs.