Red-faced Cormorant Phalacrocorax urile

Identification Tips:

• Sexes similar
• Large, dark waterbird with a long, hooked bill and long tail
• Long, thin neck
• Gular region is blue and bordered bright red onto the forehead
• Often perches with wings spread to dry them

Adult:

• Entirely dark plumage except for white flank patch
• Two crests on head
• Thin, white plumes on neck
• Bill is partially yellow

Immature:

• Very dark plumage

Similar species:

Loons are similar on the water, but lack hooked bills. Most loons hold their bills level while swimming while cormorants hold theirs angled upwards. All adult cormorant species in the U.S. are separable by the shape and color of the gular areas. No other species has a small blue gular region with a bright red forehead. The Red-faced Cormorant overlaps the range of the Pelagic Cormorant only in Alaska. In the breeding season, the Red-faced Cormorant has a red forehead and a pale bill. Other cormorants lack the white flank patch.