Bank Cormorant

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Bank Cormorant

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

Binomial name

Phalacrocorax neglectus
(Wahlberg, 1855)

The Bank Cormorant, Phalacrocorax neglectus, also known as Wahlberg's Cormorant is a medium-sized cormorant that is endemic to Namibia and the western seaboard of South Africa, living in and around coastal waters; it is rarely recorded more than 15Km offshore.

The Bank Cormorant is a heavy-bodied bird, roughly 75cm in length. It is generally black in appearance with a bronze sheen, though the wings are a dark brown rather than a true black. Adults have a small crest on their heads, and normally have a white rump.

A prime food for these birds is the Cape Rock Lobster Jasus lalandii, and their feeding distribution closely matches the kelp beds where these lobsters live, though the birds will also take a variety of other crustacean and fish prey, notably Pacific Goby Sufflogobius bibarbatus.

The birds may breed at any time of the year, laying two or three chalky-white eggs in a nest constructed from seaweed and guano.

Numbers of these birds have been declining sharply in recent decades, partly because of commercial fishing for Pacific Goby, partly because of increasing human disturbance, and partly because numbers of Kelp Gulls have been increasing because of human provisioning, and the gulls are active predators on the cormorant eggs and chicks. The world population is probably now around 4000 birds. The most important population centres are in Mercury Island and Ichaboe Island in Namibia.

[edit] References

BirdLife International (2006). Phalacrocorax neglectus. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 11 May 2006. Database entry includes a range map and justification for why this species is endangered