Ajay Kumar at 21:45, 30 August 2023

2023-08-30T21:45:03Z

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{{short description|Species of bird from Asia}}
{{speciesbox
| image = Indian_cormorant1_bySaptarshiGayen.jpg
| image_caption = Non-breeding bird with blue iris
| status = LC
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| status_ref = <ref name="iucn status 12 November 2021">{{cite iucn |author=BirdLife International |date=2018 |title=''Phalacrocorax fuscicollis'' |volume=2018 |page=e.T22696779A132592646 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T22696779A132592646.en |access-date=12 November 2021}}</ref>
| genus = Phalacrocorax
| species = fuscicollis
| authority = [[James Francis Stephens|Stephens]], 1826
| range_map = Phalacrocorax fuscicollis map.svg
| range_map_caption = Range of ''P. fuscicollis''
}}

The '''Indian cormorant''' or '''Indian shag''' ('''''Phalacrocorax fuscicollis''''') is a member of the [[cormorant]] family. It is found mainly along the inland waters of the [[Indian Subcontinent]] but extends west to Sind and east to [[Thailand]] and [[Cambodia]]. It is a gregarious species that can be easily distinguished from the similar sized [[little cormorant]] by its blue eyes, small head with a sloping forehead and a long narrow bill ending in a hooked tip.

==Taxonomy==
The Indian cormorant was [[species description|formally described]] in 1826 by English naturalist [[James Francis Stephens]] and given the current binomial name ''Phalacrocorax fuscicollis''.<ref>{{ cite book | last=Stephens | first=James Francis | author-link=James Francis Stephens | editor-last=Shaw | editor-first=George | editor-link=George Shaw (biologist) | year=1826 | title=General Zoology, or Systematic Natural History | volume=13, Part 1 | location=London | publisher=Kearsley et al. | page=91 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/36850080 }} </ref> The specific epithet combines the [[Latin]] ''fuscus'' meaning "dusky" or "brown" with the [[Neo-Latin|Modern Latin]] ''-collis'' meaning "-necked".<ref>{{cite book | last=Jobling | first=James A. | year=2010| title=The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | publisher=Christopher Helm | location=London | isbn=978-1-4081-2501-4 | page=167 | url=https://archive.org/stream/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling#page/n167/mode/1up }}</ref> The species is [[monotypic]]: no [[subspecies]] are recognised.<ref name=ioc>{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela Rasmussen | date=August 2022 | title=Storks, frigatebirds, boobies, darters, cormorants | work=IOC World Bird List Version 12.2 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/storks/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=21 November 2022}}</ref>

A [[molecular phylogenetic]] study published in 2019 found that the Indian cormorant was [[sister taxon|sister]] to the [[little black cormorant]]. It is estimated that the two species split 2.5–3.2 million years ago during the late [[Pliocene]].<ref>{{Cite journal | last1=Kennedy | first1=M. | last2=Seneviratne | first2=S.S. | last3=Rawlence | first3=N.J. | last4=Ratnayake | first4=S. | last5=Spencer | first5=H.G. | date=2019 | title=The phylogenetic placement of the enigmatic Indian Cormorant, ''Phalacrocorax fuscicollis'' (Phalacrocoracidae) | journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution | volume=130 | pages=227-232 | doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2018.10.019| doi-access=free }}</ref>

==Description==
This medium-sized bronze brown cormorant is scalloped in black on the upper plumage, lacks a crest and has a small and slightly peaked head with a long narrow bill that ends in a hooked tip. The eyes are blue and it has bare yellow facial skin during the non-breeding season. Breeding birds have a short white ear tuft. In some plumages it has a white throat but the white is restricted below the gape unlike in the much larger [[great cormorant]]. Sexes are similar, but non-breeding adults and juveniles are browner.<ref name=pcr>{{cite book|author1=Rasmussen PC |author2=JC Anderton |year=2005|title=Birds of South Asia. The Ripley Guide. Volume 2|publisher=Smithsonian Institution & Lynx Edicions|page=52}}</ref>

==Distribution and habitat==
This cormorant fishes gregariously in inland rivers or large wetlands of peninsular India and the northern part of Sri Lanka. It also occurs in estuaries and mangroves but not on the open coast. They breed very locally in mixed species breeding colonies.<ref name=pcr/> They extend north-east to [[Assam]] and eastward into [[Thailand]], [[Burma]] and [[Cambodia]].<ref name=hbk>{{cite book|author1=Ali S |author2=SD Ripley |title=Handbook of the birds of India and Pakistan. Volume 1|edition=2nd|pages=39–41|year=1978|publisher=Oxford University Press|place=New Delhi}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|journal=Forktail|volume=19|year=2003|pages=103–127|title=An annotated list of the birds of Cambodia from 1859 to 1970|author1=Thomas WW|author2=CM Poole|url=http://www.www.orientalbirdclub.org/publications/forktail/19pdfs/Thomas-Cambodia.pdf|access-date=2011-08-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110610223531/http://www.orientalbirdclub.org/publications/forktail/19pdfs/Thomas-Cambodia.pdf|archive-date=2011-06-10|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author=Sashikumar, C |year=1991|title= Occurrence of the Indian Shag ''Phalacrocorax fuscicollis'' Stephens in Kerala|journal= J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. |volume=88|issue=3|page= 442|url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/48673878}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |journal=Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society |volume=105 |issue=2 |year=2008 |pages=162–180 |title=The waterbirds of Pulicat lake, Andhra PRadesh-Tamil Nadu, India, including those of the adjoining wetlands and heronries |author1=Kannan, V |author2=R Manakadan |author3=P Rao |author4=KK Mohapatra |author5=S Sivakumar |author6=V Santharam |url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/48379051}}</ref>

==Behaviour==
[[File:Indian_Cormorant,_Munderikadavu,_Kerala.jpg|thumb|left|In wing-drying posture]]
The breeding season is July to February but depends on rainfall and water conditions. In northern India, they breed from July to February and in Sri Lanka, between November and February. The nest is a platform of twigs placed in the forks of partially submerged trees or of those growing on the islands. The nests are similar to those of other Indian cormorants, storks or waterbirds in dense colonies, often with several tiers of nests. The usual clutch is three to five eggs which are bluish green and with a chalky surface.<ref name=hbk/>

The Indian cormorant makes short dives to capture the fish and a group will often fish communally, forming a broad front to drive fish into a corner.<ref name=hbk/>

An echinostomatid parasite has been described from Sindh from this species.<ref>{{cite journal|title= Echinostoma valentini sp.n. (Trematoda: Echinostomatidae) from a bird Phalacrocorax fuscicollis in Sindh, Pakistan| author1=Das, S.N.| author2=Ghazi, R.R.| journal=Proceedings of Parasitology| year= 2011 |volume=51 |pages=87–97}}</ref>

{{birdbox| collapsible = yes
| state = collapsed
|pop1=Across range<ref name="pcr" /><ref name="hbk" />
|data1={{birdbox/population
|unit=mm
|lengthm=510-535
|lengthf=475-510
|tailm=138-142
|tailf=94-96
|tarsus=47-52
|culmen=54-58
}}
}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}
{{Suliformes}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q749326}}

[[Category:Phalacrocorax|Indian cormorant]]
[[Category:Birds of India|Indian cormorant]]
[[Category:Birds of South Asia]]
[[Category:Birds of Southeast Asia]]
[[Category:Birds described in 1826|Indian cormorant]]
[[Category:Birds of Nepal]]

Indian cormorant - Revision history

Ajay Kumar at 21:45, 30 August 2023