Order PELECANIFORMES | Family PHALACROCORACIDAE |
Phalacrocorax carbo Linnaeus, 1758 Great Cormorant Races:
Phalacrocorax carbo subcormoranus C.L.Brehm, 1824
Common but locally rare breeding migrant. Inhabits only fish lakes and reservoirs, sometimes salty. Arrives after opening of reservoirs, at early – end March in southern areas, and at the early – mid-April in northern ones. During migration and dispersal occurs of flocks, from 5-10 up to several hundred specimens. Breeding in large colonies, sometimes numbering hundreds up to thousand pairs, but more often smaller. Frequently it settles together with Grey Heron, Spoonbill, Night Heron, Pelican, etc. Breeding begins in April. Bulky nests are built among reed-beds, on shore rocks and on stony or sandy islands, on flooded trees, or in forest-belt on small islands, from dry twigs or reed stems, inner cup lined with grass and reed leaves, often very close one to other. Breeding is prolonged even in one colony. Fresh eggs found from mid – end April up to mid-June. Very late nesting is recorded in Ile river delta. It can be connected with first time breeders beginning to nest much later, than the adults. Clutches of 3-5 eggs end April – mid-June. Both parents incubate 28-30 days. Young fly from early June. Later they are united in flocks and conduct wandering life. Migration from northern half of Kazakhstan in September (last birds seen early October), from south in October – mid-November, though separate birds observed up to the early December.
Breeding in Syrdarya valley, Balkhash-Alakol' and Zaysan depressions, irregularly on Kamysh-Samarskiye lakes, in lower reaches of Turgay river, in Naurzum Reserve and on Kurgaldzhin lakes. Between 1980-1990 a colony existed on Sorbulak lake close to Almaty, where birds nested in 2001-2003 too. In recent years nesting renewed on northern Caspian Sea, near delta of Ural river. During migration and dispersal they occur everywhere, including Southern Altai (Markakol’ lake) and Zailiyskiy Alatau ridge, when in end October over Almaty can observed some flocks (up to 100-150 birds) migrate in direction of Issyk-Kul' lake.
Gavrilov E. I., Gavrilov A. E. "The Birds of Kazakhstan". Almaty, 2005
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