What Should Be Known About the Ugandan, White-breasted Cormorant?

The White-Breasted Cormorant in Uganda is one of the African birds in Uganda seen during Uganda bird watching tours. Cormorants are more correctly known as water birds than seabirds, because they are rarely seen out to sea.

The white-breasted cormorant belongs to the family Phalacrocoracidae, ranked- species, order- Suliformes, Phylum-Chordata, Kingdom: Animalia

They frequent mainly the shorelines of a variety of marine, brackish and fresh water.

How Does a Ugandan White-breasted Cormorant Look Like?

The white underparts of a White-breasted Cormorant contrast strongly with the dark upperparts and It is largely sedentary in its African range.

It has a length between 80-100cm, its wingspan is between 120-150cm and male White-breasted cormorant can weigh 3100g while the female 1800g.

The White-breasted Cormorant adult has glossy dark brown plumage, except the white patch of the thigh, and the white cheeks, fore neck and breast.

On the upper wing, the feathers are broadly edged pale buff, creating a scaled effect. On the head, forehead, crown, nape and hindneck are dark brown, with shaggy feathers on the hindneck.

The bare skin of the face is yellow on cere, lores and chin, and there is a yellow orbital ring around the turquoise-green eyes.

The long, slender bill is grey with slightly paler lower mandible, and upper mandible sharply curved at tip. Legs and large webbed feet are blackish.

Male and female are similar and both are slightly duller outside breeding. The juvenile is paler than adults with entirely white underparts. The immature is duller above and greyer below.

Where Can The White-breasted Cormorant be Found?

The white-breasted cormorant is found inland in East Africa. Some of them occur in Nigeria and around Lake Chad, Sudan, southwards to East and South Africa.

In Uganda this bird can be found in Queen Elizabeth National park-Uganda along the shores of Kazinga Channel.

Where Do White-breasted Cormorants Live in Uganda?

The White-breasted Cormorant live near open water including saline, brackish and fresh water. It hangs around shallow water near the shores in the ocean, whereas inland, it can be found around lakes, dams and rivers with abundant fish, like the Kazinga channel. It also frequents estuaries and deltas, mangrove swamps, coastal lagoons and bays

How Does the Ugandan White-breasted Cormorant Sing?

Mostly, the White-Breasted Cormorant is quiet, however at colonies and near the nest, it produces sounds, roars, cries and hisses.

What Does the Uganda White-breasted Cormorant Feed On?

The White-breasted Cormorant is a flesh-eater and feeds on fish, lobsters and sometimes molluscs as well as nesting birds-but not normally.

How Does the Ugandan White-Breasted Cormorant Feed?

It can swim and dive deep up to ten meters. It chases the prey by swimming under water, grabs it in the bill and usually swallows it immediately depending on the size.

The larger preys are brought back to the shore to be eaten. Other preys such as crustaceans, amphibians and molluscs are crushed up quickly.

How Does the Uganda’s White-breasted Cormorant Nest?

The nesting site is chosen, cleaned and protected by the male, trying to entice the female.

Nesting materials are gathered by the male as the female builds the nest. a levelled platform made of twigs, branches, plumages, and sometimes with fragments and seaweeds.

They make the nest strong, cover it in guano, and can be re-used for many years.

It is placed on island, cliff-ledges, offshore rocks, shipwreck, pylon and other man-made structures.

How Does the Uganda’s White-breasted Cormorant Breed?

The male seduces the female by wing-waving, trying to snapshot its white thigh patches to the female by showing and hiding them as the wings are moving.

Once the female is convinced, they form a couple and strengthen their relationship with passion mutual tidying, crowing with head raised up and twisting their necks.

They are in most cases faithful to each other (monogamous), however most birds change partners every year.

Their breeding season is continuous all over the year, but usually high between January and July.  They breed groups but not more than 50 pairs.

How Does the Uganda White-breasted Cormorant Reproduce?

The mother bird lays between 3-4eggs. incubation is done by both parents and it is between 28-30days with periods of six hours as they changeover to allow display.

Incubation of eggs is done between the belly feathers and webbed feet. Young ones are born with no feathers but in a short period, the black down feathers grow quickly.

Both adults feed their ones by regurgitated food. The powerless young ones die so quick while the stronger ones have the ability to fight against predators by swaying the head and lunging continuously.

After hatching, the chicks fledge about 50 days and then fly 10days later. Parents continue feeding the chicks up to 6 more weeks.

What is the life span of the Uganda`s white-breasted cormorant?

Without attack, the white breasted cormorant can live up to 15 years.