English: Great Cormorant
Russian: Большой баклан
German: Kormoran
French: Grand Cormoran
Mongolian: Тураг гогой
Japanese:カワウ(Kawa-u)

Body length:  77-94cm
Wing span: 121-149 cm

Breeding visitor
Breeding season: May-August

Egg number: 3-4 (occasionally 5-6)
Egg color: Pale blue, unmarked.
Brood: 1 per year.

Global status: Least concern
Regional status: Least concern

Food: Insects, small and medium-sized fishes, and young frogs.

Habitat: Breeds on cliff-ledges along sea coasts or in trees at lakes or coasts, at times in reedbeds or on ground. Northern birds migratory, British & Irish disperse locally. Roosts on sandbanks, rocks or take-net poles etc., often in large, dense flocks. Nest of seaweed, reed, twigs. Tree-nesting birds eventually kill their droppings. Numbers have increased recently.

Identification: Large with long, thick neck. Head profile rather wedge-shaped and angular, bill strong. In flight superficially goose-like (similar size and wingbeat rate, neck outstretched, often flying at some flying at some height, incl. over land, generally in formation when in flock), but told by incidence of brief glides breaking active flight, by slightly shallower wingbeats, longer tail, kinked neck, and less orderly flock formation; also bill and tail held rather high. Single birds often fly low over the water. Swims with body low and bill pointing up, and at long range could be confused with Yellow-billed Loon, but note angular hindcrown, more erect neck and more strongly inclined bill, and habit of frequently leaping into dive, and of usually diving without prior surveillance with head submerged in water, so typical of loons.

• Adult: Black with bluish and some green gloss (amount of green not sufficient for picking out ssp.), wings tinged bronze and scaled black. Bare skin at base of lower mandible yellow, surrounded by white area. A white thigh patch is worn in early breeding season only (often lost as early as Jun). Crown and hindneck with varying amount of white feathers, on average more on hold birds and in spp. sinensis (but overlap considerable); much of these white feathers lost during summer. In winter less glossy, and white on cheeks and throat becomes duller and less clear-cut.
• Juvenile: Dark brown above, underparts with varying amount of white, generally on centre of throat, breast and belly. 1st-year birds can look very white beneath, or have patchy breast and belly with contrast between pure white and dark streaks.