Indian Cormorant vs Spotted Shag

Indian Cormorant

Phalacrocorax fuscicollis

Large706 gWetland

This medium-sized bronze brown cormorant is scalloped in black on the upper plumage, lacks a crest and has a small and slightly peaked head with a long narrow bill that ends in a hooked tip. The eyes are blue and it has bare yellow facial skin during the non-breeding season. Breeding birds have a short white ear tuft. In some plumages it has a white throat but the white is restricted below the gape unlike in the much larger great cormorant. Sexes are similar, but non-breeding adults and juveniles are browner.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Aparna · CC BY 4.0

Spotted Shag

Phalacrocorax punctatus

Large1.2 kgMarine

The spotted shag is a medium-sized marine bird. They are usually between 64 and 74 centimetres (25 and 29 in) high and weigh between 700 and 1,200 grams (25 and 42 oz). Their bodies are very slim and they have a very distinctive black, decurved, double crest growing on their nape and their forehead. They have a long, slender, orange-brown coloured, hooked bill and yellow-orange feet. The feathers on their bodies are grey and blue. The adults have small black spots on their backs and wings, which gave them their name. Their irises are brown, while the ring around the iris is blue.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Bernard Spragg. NZ from Christchurch, New Zealand · CC0

Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Indian Cormorant and Spotted Shag.