Socotra cormorant

Socotra cormorant
Conservation status
	; Vulnerable (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Suliformes
Family:	Phalacrocoracidae
Genus:	Phalacrocorax
Species:	P. nigrogularis
Binomial name
	Phalacrocorax nigrogularis; Ogilvie-Grant & Forbes, HO, 1899
Synonyms
	Anacarbo nigrogularis

The Socotra cormorant (Phalacrocorax nigrogularis) is a threatened species of cormorant that is endemic to the Persian Gulf and the south-east coast of the Arabian Peninsula.^[2] 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. Despite its name, it was only confirmed in 2005 that it breeds on the Socotra islands in the Indian Ocean.^[3]

The Socotra cormorant is an almost entirely blackish bird with a total length of about 80 centimetres (31 in).

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.

There is little information on this species' foraging or diet. Like all cormorants its dives for its food. Older reports suggest that it can stay submerged for up to 3 minutes, which is high for a cormorant and suggests that it would be capable of deep diving. However, there are also reports of foraging in flocks, and this is more usually seen in cormorants that feed in mid-water.

The birds are highly gregarious, with roosting flocks of 250,000 having been reported, and flocks of up to 25,000 at sea.

Some authors, such as

Leucocarbo

.

Since 2000, this species has been listed as

First Gulf War, images of badly oiled cormorants from the Gulf were regularly shown in the western media, and although the great cormorant

is also found in the Persian Gulf, it is likely that many of these were Socotra cormorants.

In 2012, the Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi (EAD) monitored wild birds throughout Abu Dhabi at nearly 60 sites and recorded 420 species from 60 families. Nearly 12,000 breeding pairs of the globally threatened Socotra Cormorant were recorded at five to six small islands in the Emirate.

The Socotra cormorant is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (

AEWA

) applies.

References

^
doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2019-3.RLTS.T22696802A155525071.en
. Retrieved 12 November 2021.

^ "Persian Gulf Desert and Semi-desert." Robert Warren Howarth (ed.), Biomes & Ecosystemsvol. 3. Ipswich, MA: Salem Press, pp. 1000-1002.
^ ^a ^b ^c BirdLife International (2011). Species Factsheet: Phalacrocorax nigrogularis. Retrieved 5 October 2011.
^ Bahrain Bird Report. Socotra Cormorant. Retrieved 5 October 2011.

ISBN 1-56098-216-0

External links

Gallery of images of Socotra cormorants - Birds Oman

[iucn_status_12_November_2021-1] 
doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2019-3.RLTS.T22696802A155525071.en
. Retrieved 12 November 2021.

[2] "Persian Gulf Desert and Semi-desert." Robert Warren Howarth (ed.), Biomes & Ecosystemsvol. 3. Ipswich, MA: Salem Press, pp. 1000-1002.

[birdlife-3] BirdLife International (2011). Species Factsheet: Phalacrocorax nigrogularis. Retrieved 5 October 2011.

[4] Bahrain Bird Report. Socotra Cormorant. Retrieved 5 October 2011.

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