Wild kids

Common name: Pied Cormorant
Scientific name: Phalacrocorax melanoleucos
Photo: Australian Museum

Birds

Little Pied Cormorant

Little Pied Cormorants are waterbirds that live near salt water along coastal Australia and fresh water in inland areas of eastern Australia. They have a white throat and stomach and a black back and wings. They have feet with four fully webbed toes. Little Pied Cormorants call with a croaking noise.

This Little Pied Cormorant is drying out in the sun.

Little Pied Cormorants duck-dive below the surface of the water and look for crabs and fish during the day. Their beaks have a hook at the end to help them hold onto slippery food such as fish. When they catch their food they dive under the surface of the water to swallow it whole.

Little Pied Cormorants use sticks to make platform nests in trees near the water or on the ground. Females lay three to five pale blue or pale green eggs. Both parents take turns to sit on the eggs for 30 days. When the eggs hatch the chicks are helpless and have no feathers. Both parents feed the chicks until they are ready to fly and feed themselves at seven weeks.