by BRUCE MUNRO
THE Cape cormorant is found in abundance on the coastline from the Congo river mouth on the west coast of Africa, southward around southern tip of Cape Agulhas and up northwards along the KZN coast, where they are less common, to southern Mozambique.
They are usually silent but they cluck and croak at their breeding colonies.
Cormorants fly at 75kms per hour in long, undulating lines low over the sea. They settle in large flocks to feed, diving from surface and can submerge for 30 seconds.
WATCH:
The Cape cormorant feeds mainly on anchovies, pilchards and maasbankers.
They breed throughout the year on offshore islands from Namibia to Algoa Bay. The nest is a shallow bowl of sticks and seaweed.
Two to three chalky white eggs are laid, with an incubation period of 22 to 23 days and nestlings remaining for nine weeks. The Cape cormorant’s African name is uGwidi and in Afrikaans, trekduiker.
SEE MORE BIRDS OF THE WEEK HERE
WATCH: This video filmed just south of Elsinore in the sound between Denmark and Sweden, shows a cormorant hunting for food underwater
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