Neotropic Cormorant - Behaviour

Behaviour

Its diet consists mainly of small fish, but will also eat tadpoles, frogs, and aquatic insects. Information about its prey is sparse, but inland birds seem to feed on small, abundant fish in ponds and sheltered inlets, less than 10 cm in length, with an individual weight of a gram or two, such as Poecilia spp. especially the sailfin molly Poecilia latipinna. This cormorant forages for food by diving underwater, propelling itself by its feet. Its dives are brief, between 5 and 15 seconds. It is also known to forage in groups, with several birds beating the water with their wings to drive fish forward into shallows.

Neotropic Cormorants are monogamous and breed in colonies. The nest is a platform of sticks with a depression in the center circled with twigs and grass. It is built a few metres above the ground or water in bushes or trees. Up to five chalky, bluish-white eggs are laid. Most pairs lay 3 eggs, but the mean number hatched is less than 2. The eggs soon become nest-stained. Both sexes incubate for about 25–30 days, and both parents feed the young until around the 11th week. By week 12, they are independent. One brood is raised per year.

Unlike other cormorants, this bird can often be seen perching on wires.

This bird is largely a permanent resident, with some birds occasionally wandering north in the warmer months.