Brandt’s Cormorant, Phalacrocorax penicillatus

Brandt’s Cormorant, Phalacrocorax penicillatus. Bird photographed in the greater Los Cabos area, Baja California Sur, March 2017.

Brandt’s Cormorant, Phalacrocorax penicillatus. Birds photographed within the coastal dunes of La Jolla Cove, La Jolla, California, April 2018.

Brandt’s Cormorant, Phalacrocorax penicillatus, is a member of the Phalacrocoracidae Family of Cormorants and Shags. They are mid-sized in stature. In Mexico they are winter visitors that are found in the coastal regions of the Pacific Slope including Baja California, Baja California Sur and along the coast of the mainland from Sonora to Nayarit at elevations below 50 m (165 feet). From a conservation perspective the Brandt’s Cormorant is currently considered to be of Least Concern with stable, widely distributed populations. They are found near sheltered inlets, estuaries, and on the open ocean within a km of the coast. The feed primarily on a wide selection of fish caught by pursuit-diving to depths up to 120 m (400 feet) and occasionally on cephalopods and other invertebrates.