Family: Phalacrocoracidae, Cormorants view all from this family

Description 25" (64 cm). A small, delicate-looking cormorant of southern lagoons and marshes; black glossed with olive, with orange throat pouch narrowly bordered with white. Double-crested Cormorant is larger, lacks white border on throat pouch, has shorter tail, and flies with crook in neck.

Habitat Brackish and fresh water.

Nesting 2-6 chalky blue eggs, often stained with brown, in a shallow nest of sticks lined with grass. Nests in trees or bushes in small colonies.

Range Resident along Gulf Coast of Louisiana and Texas, in southern New Mexico, and south to southern South America.

Voice Soft grunts.

Discussion Primarily a tropical species, the Neotropic Cormorant is most likely to be seen along the Gulf Coast, where it is the smallest of the three cormorants in the East, but a few individuals live near Elephant Butte, on the Rio Grande in New Mexico. It often perches on telephone wires, where it can be seen spreading its wings to dry. When alarmed, it is more apt to escape by flying than by diving, as its larger relatives do. These birds sometimes engage in communal fishing, lining up across a stream and moving forward with flailing wings to drive fish into shallow water.