White-breasted cormorant
{{Short description|Subspecies of bird}}
{{Subspeciesbox
| image = White-breasted cormorant (Phalacrocorax lucidus).jpg
| image_caption = Lake Ziway, Ethiopia
| status =
| genus = Phalacrocorax
| species = carbo
| subspecies=lucidus
| synonyms = Phalacrocorax carbo lucidus
| authority = (Lichtenstein, MHC, 1823)
| range_map = Phalacrocorax lucidus map.svg
| range_map_caption = Range, excluding isolated northern and western populations{{cite book|last1=Nelson|first1=J. Bryan|title=Pelicans, cormorants and their relatives: Pelecanidae, Sulidae, Phalacrocoracidae, Anhingidae, Fregatidae, Phaethontidae|date=2006|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=New York|isbn=9780198577270|edition=Bird families of the world, Vol. 17}}
{{leftlegend|green|breeding range|outline=gray}}{{leftlegend|blue|non-breeding range|outline=gray}}
}}
The white-breasted cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo lucidus) is a subspecies of the widely distributed great cormorant, formerly often considered to be a separate species. Its distinguishing features include a white breast and a preference for freshwater habitats among its subpopulations.J.A. Harrison, D.G. Allan, L.G. Underhill, M. Herremans, A.J. Tree, V. Parker, C.J. Brown (eds). The Atlas of Southern African Birds. Published by BirdLife South Africa, P.O. Box 84394, Greenside 2034, Johannesburg, South Africa 1997 {{ISBN|0 620 20729 9}} The species should not be confused with the smaller and morphologically distinct endemic South Australian black-faced cormorant, which occasionally shares the common name "white-breasted cormorant".
Taxonomy
Phalacrocorax carbo lucidus is a subspecies of the great cormorant and a member of the cormorant family Phalacrocoracidae. Its taxonomic status was formerly uncertain but genetic evidence has shown that it is embedded within P. carbo.{{Cite journal | last1=Kennedy | first1=M. | last2=Spencer | first2=H.G. | date=2014 | title=Classification of the cormorants of the world | journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution | volume=79 | pages=249–257 | doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2014.06.020| pmid=24994028 | bibcode=2014MolPE..79..249K }} A black-necked form originally classified as Phalacrocorax patricki or Phalacrocorax carbo patricki is now regarded as synonymous with P. c. lucidus.{{cite journal |last1=Urban |first1=Emil K. |last2=Jefford |first2=T. G. |title=The status of the cormorants, Phalacrocorax carbo lucidus and Phalacrocorax carbo patricki |journal=Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club |date=1974 |volume=94 |pages=104–107 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/40826310 |access-date=29 August 2024}}
Description
As its name suggests, the {{cvt|80|to|100|cm|in|adj=mid|-long}} white-breasted cormorant has a white neck and breast when adult, and the white area tends to increase as the bird becomes more mature, though juveniles have more extensive pale mottling down to the belly. In other respects it is a large cormorant generally resembling the great cormorant.
Distribution
Image:White-Breasted Cormorant (Phalacrocorax lucidus).jpg
The white-breasted cormorant is the only form of great cormorant found in Sub-Saharan Africa, the only form that has strictly freshwater populations, and the only form with a white breast and throat. It does however intergrade with the great cormorant subspecies P. carbo maroccanus in western Africa, which is distinguished only with difficulty by its reduced white on the breast.{{cite journal |last1=Bergier |first1=Patrick |last2=Thévenot |first2=Michel |last3=Qninba |first3=Abdeljebbar |last4=Samlali |first4=Mohamed |title=Les Grands Cormorans Phalacrocorax carbo maroccanus / lucidus dans le Sahara Atlantique marocain |journal=Go-South Bulletin |date=2013 |volume=10 |pages=208–220 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/241276342_Les_Grands_Cormorans_Phalacrocorax_carbo_maroccanus_lucidus_dans_le_Sahara_Atlantique_marocain |language=French |access-date=29 August 2024}} The West African population predominantly inhabits the Sahelian Upwelling Marine Ecoregion, stretching from Morocco to Guinea along the Atlantic coast, and its breeding grounds extend from the Cape Verde Islands to the coastline. In 2006, it was estimated that this population comprised approximately 35,000 individuals, according to data from Wetlands International.{{Cite journal |last1=Veen |first1=Jan |last2=Mullié |first2=Wim C. |last3=Veen |first3=Thor |date=2012 |title=The Diet of the White-Breasted Cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo lucidus Along the Atlantic Coast of West Africa |url=https://bioone.org/journals/ardea/volume-100/issue-2/078.100.0205/The-Diet-of-the-White-Breasted-Cormorant-Phalacrocorax-carbo-lucidus/10.5253/078.100.0205.full |journal=Ardea |volume=100 |issue=2 |pages=137–148 |doi=10.5253/078.100.0205 |issn=0373-2266}} The species has important nesting sites in Djoudj National Park in Senegal.{{Cite book |last1=Gherardi |first1=Franccesa |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Sh9lCwAAQBAJ&dq=%22White-breasted+cormorant%22+%22Senegal%22&pg=PA317 |title=Biodiversity Conservation and Habitat Management - Volume I |last2=Corti |first2=Claudia |last3=Gualtieri |first3=Manuela |date=2009-12-29 |publisher=EOLSS Publications |isbn=978-1-905839-20-9 |pages=317 |language=en}} It also interbreeds freely with dark-breasted forms in central Africa.
It can be found from Angola to the Cape of Good Hope and northwards on the east coast to Mozambique and occurs around the entire Southern African coastline, but it is not clear whether the coastal populations are separate from the inland populations. On the African mainland it occurs more frequently in eastern and southern parts, rather than in the drier western regions, where it usually is found only on perennial rivers and dams. On inland waters it commonly occurs together with the reed cormorant and the African darter, but it is ecologically separated from these species by its fishing habits and the size and nature of its prey. There are also inland populations in Nigeria and around Lake Chad, and in eastern and southern Africa from Sudan southwards. It can be found around the Red Sea, where it is sometimes referred to as the Red Sea white-breasted cormorant.
Diet
White-breasted cormorants are opportunistic feeders in fish-rich marine environments.
A 2012 study on West African populations revealed significant dietary variations across different sites, with a few dominant fish species in each location. The majority of prey fish were coastal species, some capable of entering brackish and fresh waters. Predominantly, the consumed fish were benthic or bentho-pelagic, ranging from 10 to 20 cm in size. These findings indicate the species' capacity to adapt to fluctuations in fish availability across environments.
Gallery
White-breasted cormorants (Phalacrocorax lucidus).jpg|A nesting colony in iSimangaliso Wetland Park, South Africa
White-breasted cormorants - Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda (2), crop.jpg|Breeding adults, distinguishable by their white flank spots, and a juvenile (centre), with more extensive mottled pale belly but no flank spot, at Lake Edward, Uganda
White-breasted cormorant (Phalacrocorax lucidus) with feather composite.jpg|playing with feather, Ethiopia
White breasted cormorant, Phalacrocorax lucidus, at Roodeplaat Nature Reserve (9108175489), crop.jpg|In flight, carrying nesting material
References
{{Reflist}}
Further reading
{{ref begin}}
- Johnsgaard, P. A. (1993). Cormorants, darters and pelicans of the world. Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution Press.
- Ian Sinclair, Phil Hockey and Warwick Tarboton, SASOL Birds of Southern Africa (Struik 2002) {{ISBN|1-86872-721-1}}
{{ref end}}
External links
- [http://sabap2.adu.org.za/docs/sabap1/055.pdf White-breasted cormorant] - The Atlas of Southern African Birds
- [https://journals.uct.ac.za/index.php/BO/article/view/993 White-breasted cormorant sleeping on transmission lines] -- paper in Biodiversity Observations
{{Suliformes}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q548024}}
Category:Birds of Sub-Saharan Africa
Category:Birds of Southern Africa