By Mariano Gómez · Updated on 9 October 2026

Birds

Great Cormorant, the black fisher that dries its wings in the sun

Phalacrocorax carboHear its song0:25

Photo gallery of the Great Cormorant

Identification of the Great Cormorant

The Great Cormorant is a bird of awkward look and overall blackish colouring, except the throat, which is whitish. It has a long, thick neck, a prominent grey bill and black legs. At the base of the lower mandible it has a featherless orange-yellow area, which almost reaches the eyes. The colouring of the back feathers makes them look like scales. When swimming it keeps its waterline high, with three quarters of the body under water. It spends a lot of time perched on rocks or trees, with wings open to dry its plumage.

During the breeding period adults show white patches on the head, flanks and upper thighs, and wear a glossier plumage. Young birds have pale creamy underparts.

Adult

• Blackish, with whitish throat and back feathers shaped like scales.
• Prominent grey bill, with an orange-yellow featherless area.
• When breeding, white patches on the head, flanks and thighs.

Young bird

• Underparts pale creamy.

Habitat and distribution of the Great Cormorant

It is widely distributed, though discontinuously, across Europe, North America, Asia, Japan, Africa and even Australia. It has five subspecies, two of them in Europe: «carbo», with more liking for coastal marine environments, appears in the North Atlantic and breeds mainly in Great Britain, Ireland, France and Iceland; and «sinensis», somewhat smaller, which occupies inland waters and breeds in the rest of Europe (Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, Poland, the Czech Republic and the western Mediterranean) and is also that of eastern Asia and Japan.

It is common in winter in most peninsular provinces, provided they have large reservoirs, lagoons or rivers with plentiful fish populations. As a breeder it is more frequent on the Cantabrian and Mediterranean coasts, with more occasional observations on inland reservoirs of the western half of the peninsula and in the Ebro basin.

It occupies preferably open water surfaces, coastal or inland, fresh or salt, as long as they have good fish populations: lakes, lagoons, reservoirs, rivers, deltas, marshes…

The two European subspecies show different migratory patterns. «Carbo» makes shorter movements and seems to be the majority in winter on the Atlantic and Cantabrian coasts; «sinensis», distributed across most of western Europe, migrates further south, to the Mediterranean and even North Africa, and is the one seen mainly on inland waters of the peninsula, both breeding and wintering.

Etymology of the Great Cormorant

According to Wikipedia, «Phalacrocorax» comes from the ancient Greek «phalakrós» («bald») and «kórax» («raven»), and «carbo» is «coal» in Latin. In other languages it is called «corb marí gros» in Catalan, «corvo mariño grande» in Galician, «ubarroi handia» in Basque and «great cormorant» in English¹.

Population of the Great Cormorant

In the 2021 European Red List of Birds the European breeding population is estimated at between 828,000 and 1,030,000 mature individuals, with an increasing trend. The species has grown greatly as a winter visitor in Iberian waters since the 1980s, when it was scarce even in places where thousands of birds are now recorded; the increase seems due to the growth of the northern European breeding population and the expansion of reservoirs. As a breeder it also keeps a positive trend: there are several colonies, some of more than 60 pairs, and in 2012 1,605 pairs were counted, a figure that is noticeably higher today.

It seems to be expanding and has no major problems. As the main threat poaching stands out, above all in wintering areas where fish farming is an important resource, and disturbance during nesting can cause clutches to be lost. Being a consummate fisher, in some areas it has come into conflict with people, who accuse it of eating fish of fishing and commercial interest.

Nest of the Great Cormorant

It usually sets the nest in trees or on reedbeds, and, on the coast, on cliffs. It is built with plant material and an upper layer of feathers, and can be reused year after year.

Courtship and breeding of the Great Cormorant

It is a colonial species. The clutch normally consists of three or four blue-green eggs, laid at 2–3-day intervals and incubated for 25–31 days; replacement clutches are frequent. Once hatched, the chicks are cared for and fed by both parents with regurgitated food, which the chick itself takes by putting its head into the parents’ bill. The young become independent at 50 days and reach sexual maturity at four or five years.

Diet of the Great Cormorant

Essentially fish-eating, it can catch large fish, which it fishes while diving.

Curious facts about the Great Cormorant

Originally it was only a winter visitor in Spain, but for some years now it has settled as a breeder on some inland reservoirs. Weight varies greatly: Wikipedia gives 1.5 to 5.3 kg depending on the subspecies, and BTO, 2.3 kg on average. According to EURING, the ringed bird that lived longest, in Iceland, reached 32 years and 1 month; AnAge gives 32.1 years.

The Great Cormorant in Cabañeros

The habitat pages of this website do not mention it. GBIF.org records 95 observations of the Great Cormorant in Cabañeros and its surroundings.

Where to see the Great Cormorant in Cabañeros

In Cabañeros and its surroundings, above all in winter.

When

All year, but above all in winter, when birds arrive from northern Europe.

What time

In good light, on large reservoirs, lagoons and rivers with plenty of fish.

Where

Perched on rocks, trees or posts, with wings open, or swimming with the body almost submerged.

What to look for

Look for the scaly black plumage, the long neck, the grey bill and the yellow skin of the face.

Videos of the Great Cormorant

Similar species

European Shag

Gulosus aristotelis

How to tell them apart

It is similar in physical appearance¹: it is the other species of cormorant present in our waters.

Photo: Charles J. Sharp, CC BY-SA 4.0

Double-crested Cormorant

Nannopterum auritum

How to tell them apart

It is similar in physical appearance (it appears under the name «Phalacrocorax auritus»)¹.

Photo: Hans Stieglitz, CC BY-SA 3.0

Other birds

Bibliography

• Jiménez García-Herrera, José. (2017). Aves de Cabañeros y su entorno. Madrid, Spain: Ecohábitat.
• SEO Birdlife - Sociedad Española de Ornitología
• https://es.wikipedia.org/
• Hume, Rob. (2016). Guía de campo de las Aves de España y Europa. Barcelona, Spain: Ediciones Omega