Little Cormorant
Microcarbo niger
About This Species
A small, all-dark waterbird, it fishes in ponds, tanks, rivers and quiet wetland margins across South and Southeast Asia, diving from the surface to pursue fish underwater before resurfacing to swallow its catch. It is often seen perched with wings held open to dry after fishing bouts, typically on snags, rocks or wires close to water. It can be found year-round, with numbers often highest where fish are concentrated in shrinking dry-season pools.
Ethical Viewing Guidelines
- Keep a moderate distance, particularly at breeding colonies in waterside trees, where groups nest alongside other waterbirds and are sensitive to disturbance from boats or people approaching the shoreline.
- Protection status and enforcement vary across its range, so avoid approaching nesting colonies directly and give drying or roosting birds room to resume normal behaviour undisturbed.
- Viewing from a stationary position on the opposite bank usually gives better and less disruptive views than approaching on foot.
LCAvesSuliformesPhalacrocoracidae
Seasonal Activity
749,961 sightings · 2000–2026
Citizen science records via GBIF
All monthsThis month
Classification
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Suliformes
- Family
- Phalacrocoracidae
Photo
(c) Matthieu Gauvain, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Matthieu Gauvain
CC-BY-NC-4.0
Occurrence data from GBIF.