Little Cormorant

The Little cormorant is 50 centimetres in length, they weigh 360 to 520 grams.

The colours of the key topographical elements has been given below...

Beak: Black in adult Little cormorant, fleshy in juvenile or non-breeding season Little cormorant.
Head: Black, has short-crest, downy Little cormorants have bare-red head.
Iris: Black.
Pupil: Black.
Lesser coverts: Black.
Scapulars: Black.
Coverts: Black.
Tertials: Black.
Rump: Black.
Primaries: Black.
Vent: Black.
Thigh: Black.
Tibio-tarsal articulation: Black.
Tarsus: Black.
Feet: Black.
Tibia: Black.
Belly: Black.
Flanks: Black.
Breast: Black.
Throat: Black, has a small and marked white patch sometimes seen.

Extra
The breeding Little cormorant has white spots and filoplumes on the face.

Sexual Dimorphism
The male Little cormorant is larger than the female Little cormorant.

They belong to the Kingdom Animalia, the Phylum is Chordata, the Class is Aves, the Order is Suliformes, the Family is Phalacrocoracidae, the Genus is Microcarbo, the Binomial name is Microcarbo niger.

Sounds
The Little cormorant is vocal around nest and roost, the Little cormorant produces low roaring. The Little cormorant produces grunts and groans, a low pitched ah-ah-ah and kok-kok-kok.

Diet
Little cormorant eats fish crustaceans and amphibians. They dive into the water to catch their prey and then return up to the surface to swallow it.

Habitat
The little cormorant is found in India. The Little cormorant It is not found in the Himalayas. The Little cormorant lives in wetlands, lowland freshwater, ponds, large lakes and tidal estuaries.

Behaviour
The Little cormorant forages in loose groups but the Little cormorant also forages alone. The Little cormorant swims underwater find fish. The Little cormorants in northern India fish water which was less than a metre deep, the Little cormorants in northern India capture fish at 2 to 8 centimetres length.

The Little cormorant propels itself underwater with webbed feet. The Little cormorant brings it's fish to the surface to swallow them, the Little cormorant's fish is stolen from birds like little cormorants, painted storks, gulls and egrets. The Little cormorant emerges from water and spreads it's wings for sometime.

The Little cormorant might spread it's wings for drying them. The Little cormorant spreads it's wings according to time spent underwater and inversely to temperature and dryness of air.

Breeding & Nesting
The Little cormorant breeds in November to February in northern India and November to February in southern India. The adult male Little cormorant will perform at the nest site, the adult male Little cormorant flutters it's wings and holds it's head back and raises it's bill.

Both the adult male and adult female Little cormorants lower their bills, the adult male Little cormorant gives food to the female as part of the performance. The adult male and adult female Little cormorant build the nest, the nest of the adult male Little cormorant and the adult female Little cormorant is a platform made of sticks on trees and coconut palms.

The nest is sometimes near Indian pond herons and little egrets in colonies. The nest is built in two weeks. The adult female Little cormorant lays whitish eggs that become muddy with age, the incubation starts after the first egg is laid.

The young Little cormorants hatch asynchronous making them vary in age. The adult female Little cormorant lays two to six eggs every two days. The eggs of the adult female Little cormorant hatchs after 15 to 21 days. The young Little cormorants leave the nest after a month.

Threats, Predators & Conservation Status
It's Conservation Status is listed as Least Concern, population is unknown.

Diseases that affect them include Parasitic bird lice, Pectinopygus makundi, Endoparasitic helminths, Neocotylotretus udaipurensis and Syncuaria buckleyi.