Pied cormorant
Great Cormorant - Phalacrocorax carbo (our Gregory)
The largest Australian cormorant. A water loving bird which can reach 85cm tall with a wing span up to 1.5m. It has an all black body with a yellow throat and face. In the breeding season the plumage assumes a blue-green sheen and white feathers grow around the face and at the top of each leg.
Usually a silent bird however, quoting from the Field Guide to Australian Birds "the breeding male gives stuttering groans and the female hisses"............
The preferred habitat is open expanses of fresh or salt water. It is uncommon in smaller areas or shallow water but Dandenong Creek and Koomba Park suit its requirements..
Parent birds build an untidy nest of sticks and grass to hold 3 to 5 bluish eggs. Both parents incubate for approximately 1 month and chicks fledge at 7 weeks.
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