Indian Cormorant
Phalacrocorax fuscicollis
Call and song
Recording 1 · call
Recording 2
Recording 3
About the Indian Cormorant
A dark ducklike waterbird with blue-green eyes, a rounded head, a sloping forehead, and a long and slender bill that is sharply hooked at the tip. Adults are black, immatures are brownish with white underparts. Like all cormorants, frequently seen swimming with its body low in the water, head and neck pointing upward, and suddenly disappearing underwater to catch fish. Often perches upright on a rock, drying itself with outstretched wings. Seen in small groups, fishing communally in inland water bodies. Similar to Little Cormorant, but note the slightly larger size and shape of the head, flat on Little Cormorant and rounded on Indian Cormorant. Indian Cormorant is smaller and slimmer than Great Cormorant.
Species account: eBird.org, fetched 2025-12-26 · How these pages are made
Where it has been recorded
Recorded in 10 of the 253 countries we have eBird lists for. Each opens that country's checklist.
More cormorants and shags
Little Black CormorantPhalacrocorax sulcirostris
Pied CormorantPhalacrocorax varius
European ShagGulosus aristotelis
Double-crested CormorantNannopterum auritum
Great CormorantPhalacrocorax carbo
Neotropic CormorantNannopterum brasilianum
Brandt's CormorantUrile penicillatus
Little CormorantMicrocarbo niger