Cape cormorant

Species of bird

Cape cormorant

Walvis Bay, Namibia

Conservation status

Endangered (IUCN 3.1)[1]

Scientific classification
Domain:  | Eukaryota
Kingdom:  | Animalia
Phylum:  | Chordata
Class:  | Aves
Order:  | Suliformes
Family:  | Phalacrocoracidae
Genus:  | Phalacrocorax
Species:  |

P. capensis

Binomial name
Phalacrocorax capensis

(Sparrman, 1788)

The Cape cormorant or Cape shag (Phalacrocorax capensis) is a bird endemic to the southwestern coasts of Africa.

It breeds from the coastal area of Namibia to southern Western Cape. In the nonbreeding season, it may be found as far north as the mouth of the Congo, also extending its home up the east coast of South Africa as far as Mozambique. 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.[1]

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 the head, neck, and cloacal areas. Its gular skin is a deep orangey yellow; unusually for a cormorant, its 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, such as pilchards, anchovies, and sand eels from mid-water. 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, 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

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* Nesting in Cape Town, South Africa

* Roosting at Boulders Beach, South Africa

* In flight over shoreline

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b BirdLife International (2018). "Phalacrocorax capensis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2018: e.T22696806A132594943. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T22696806A132594943.en. Retrieved 11 November 2021.

* Johnsgaard, P.A. (1993). Cormorants, darters, and pelicans of the world. Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution Press. ISBN 1-56098-216-0

## External links

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Media related to Phalacrocorax capensis at Wikimedia Commons  Data related to Phalacrocorax capensis at Wikispecies

* 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.

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Order: Suliformes (Phalacrocoraciformes)

Frigatebirds (family: Fregatidae * genus: Fregata)

| Genus|

Species

Fregata|

* Magnificent frigatebird
* Ascension frigatebird
* Christmas Island frigatebird
* Great frigatebird
* Lesser frigatebird

Gannets and boobies (family: Sulidae)

| Genus|

Species

Sula|

* Blue-footed booby
* Brown booby
* Cocos booby
* Masked booby
* Nazca booby
* Peruvian booby
* Red-footed booby

Papasula|

* Abbott's booby

Morus|

* Northern gannet
* Cape gannet
* Australasian gannet

Darters (family: Anhingidae * genus Anhinga)

| Genus|

Species

Anhinga|

* Anhinga
* Oriental darter
* African darter
* Australasian darter

Cormorants (family: Phalacrocoracidae)

| Genus|

Species

Phalacrocorax|

* Socotra cormorant
* Bank cormorant
* Pitt shag
* Spotted shag
* Pied cormorant
* Black-faced cormorant
* Little black cormorant
* Indian cormorant
* Cape cormorant
* Great cormorant
* White-breasted cormorant
* Japanese cormorant (Temminck's cormorant)

Microcarbo|

* Crowned cormorant
* Little cormorant
* Pygmy cormorant
* Little pied cormorant
* Reed cormorant (long-tailed cormorant)

Urile|

* Brandt's cormorant
* Pelagic cormorant
* Red-faced cormorant
* †Spectacled cormorant

Nannopterum|

* Double-crested cormorant
* Neotropic cormorant
* Flightless cormorant

Gulosus|

* European shag

Poikilocarbo|

* Red-legged cormorant

Leucocarbo|

* Rock shag (Magellanic cormorant)
* Guanay cormorant
* New Zealand king shag (rough-faced shag)
* Foveaux shag
* Otago shag
* Chatham shag
* Auckland shag
* Campbell shag
* Bounty shag
* Imperial shag (imperial cormorant, blue-eyed shag)
* Heard Island shag
* Crozet shag
* Antarctic shag
* Kerguelen shag
* Macquarie shag
* South Georgia shag

Taxon identifiers

Phalacrocorax capensis|

* Wikidata: Q1002574
* Wikispecies: Phalacrocorax capensis
* ARKive: phalacrocorax-capensis
* Avibase: AE61BF48A7C27563
* BirdLife: 22696806
* BOLD: 112731
* BOW: capcor1
* CoL: 76VF3
* eBird: capcor1
* EoL: 1049407
* EURING: 20040
* GBIF: 2481899
* iNaturalist: 4287
* IRMNG: 10584093
* ITIS: 174737
* IUCN: 22696806
* NCBI: 146614
* Observation.org: 73427
* OBIS: 212702
* Paleobiology Database: 369297
* SeaLifeBase: 84150
* WoRMS: 212702
* Xeno-canto: Phalacrocorax-capensis

Pelecanus capensis|

* Wikidata: Q109578314
* GBIF: 9816481

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*[†]: Extinct