Socotra Cormorant

The Socotra Cormorant is an almost entirely black bird. In breeding condition, its forecrown has a purplish gloss and its upperparts have a slaty-green tinge, there are a few white plumes around the eye and neck and a few white streaks at the rump. Its legs and feet are black and its gular skin blackish. All these deviations from pure black are less marked outside the breeding season. Wing breadths of 275–310 cm have been recorded.

The Socotra Cormorant is classified as Vulnerable (VU), considered to be facing a high risk of extinction in the wild.

Socotra Cormorant Phalacrocorax nigrogularis Dubai Creek/Arabian Gulf 2003 The Socotra Cormorant is listed as Vulnerable by Birdlife International “because it has a small and declining range. In addition, its population is suspected to have undergone a rapid decline of 30% or more over the past 33 years (the estimate for three generations), due mainly to infrastructural development and disturbance at its nesting colonies, possibly exacerbated by marine oil pollution. More

The Socotra Cormorant is a little-studied species which has a very restricted world distribution. How the name originated seems to be something of a mystery as, to our knowledge, there has not been any record of a breeding colony of Socotra Cormorants on the island of Socotra in the Arabian Sea. There are two main breeding populations. One on various islands of the Arabian Gulf which mostly nest in the winter months (Ed:-see accompanying article concerning international research on Socotra cormorants). More

The Socotra Cormorant (Phalacrocorax nigrogularis) is endemic to the Arabian peninsula. There are now only thirteen or fourteen colonies extant from a historical minimum of 28 formerly occupied sites: just one or two of the presently known breeding colonies lying outside the Arabian Gulf. In the winter breeding season of 1994/95 a coordinated international effort was made by all Gulf States to accurately census those remaining colonies and monitor breeding performance. More

* Socotra Cormorant, Phalacrocorax nigrogularis * Wahlberg's Cormorant or Bank Cormorant, Phalacrocorax neglectus * Temminck's Cormorant or Japanese Cormorant, Phalacrocorax capillatus * Brandt's Cormorant, Phalacrocorax penicillatus * Spectacled Cormorant, Phalacrocorax perspicillatus - extinct (c. More

The Socotra Cormorant, Phalacrocorax nigrogularis, is a cormorant that is endemic to the Persian Gulf and the south-east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It is also sometimes known as the Socotran cormorant or, more rarely, as the Socotra shag. Individuals occasionally migrate as far west as the Red Sea coast, but although the first specimen recorded was found on Socotra island, giving the bird its name, it is unlikely that it breeds there. The Socotra Cormorant is an almost entirely black bird. More

Videos and images Socotra cormorant in flight The enormous colonies of Socotra cormorants form a spectacular sight. With their primarily black plumage, black bill, and black legs, the mass of jostling black shapes almost appear like a single moving organism, blanketing and enveloping the sandy ... More

Socotra cormorant in flight Socotra cormorant in flight Print factsheet Facts - French: Cormoran De Socotra Kingdom Animalia Phylum Chordata Class Aves Order Pelecaniformes Family Phalacrocoracidae Genus Phalacrocorax (1) Size More

The Socotra Cormorant is an almost entirely black bird. In breeding condition, its forecrown has a purplish gloss and its upperparts have a slaty-green tinge, there are a few white plumes around the eye and neck and a few white streaks at the rump. More

Socotra cormorant with wings fully spread in flight Socotra cormorants can have breeding colonies and foraging flock populations numbering in the tens of thousands. They breed only on islands in the Middle East, and are threatened by coastal development in the area. Watch video clips from past programmes (1 clip) - In order to see this content you need to have an up-to-date version of Flash installed and Javascript turned on. More

The Socotra Cormorant (Phalacrocorax nigrogularis) is an almost entirely black bird. In breeding condition, its forecrown has a purplish gloss and its upperparts have a slaty-green tinge, there are a few white plumes around the eye and neck and a few white streaks at the rump. Its legs and feet are black and its gular skin blackish. All these deviations from pure black are less marked outside the breeding season. Wing breadths of 275-310 cm have been recorded. More

Socotra Cormorant Phalacrocorax nigrogularis: Status near-endemic of the Arabian Gulf Nesting on only a few islands in the Gulf Socotra Cormorants are now regarded as the most vulnerable of any Arabian endemic waterbird species. The phylogenetic position of the Socotra Cormorant Phalacrocorax nigrogularis Abstract: A recent sequence-based phylogeny for the cormorants and shags did not include the Socotra Cormorant Phalacrocorax nigrogularis. More

Socotra cormorants Phalacrocorax nigrogularis are the conservation flagship species for the thirty or more Bahraini islands of the Hawar archipelago * (QB28) that lie close to the Qatar peninsula. Endemic to the Arabian Gulf and Arabian Sea the status and biology of the Socotra cormorant still requires much investigation. In the following notes details are given of observations of communal behaviour outside of the breeding season. More

breeding of the Socotra Cormorant (Phalacrocorax) as eight chicks of the bird have been raised so far, Dr Mohammed Ali Reza Khan, Head of the Zoo said. Dr Khan said that the zoo's 11 pairs of the bird, which is a resident of the UAE, have started breeding and some are building nests and laying eggs. As of now, there are 30 birds of this species in the zoo. More

The Socotra cormorant is endemic to the Arabian Peninsular and parts of Africa. But the latest scientific data suggests that Abu Dhabi emirate might be on its way to losing its status as the host of the world’s largest population of the endangered bird. A survey last year by the Environment Agency–Abu Dhabi (EAD) found fewer than 10,000 pairs of Socotra cormorants on the emirate’s islands. More