Long-tailed Cormorant

The long-tailed cormorant (Microcarbo africanus), also widely known as the reed cormorant, is one of Africa's smaller cormorants. It measures about 50–60 cm, has a wingspan of roughly 80–90 cm and usually weighs around 513–685 g. The relatively long tail, short bill and compact head help distinguish it from larger African cormorants.

Breeding adults are mostly glossy black with a green sheen, silvery-scaled wing coverts, a small forehead crest and striking red eyes. The bare facial skin and bill are yellowish to reddish. Immature birds are much browner and have pale underparts.

Long-tailed cormorants use freshwater lakes, rivers, marshes and small farm dams particularly often, but also occur in estuaries, lagoons, mangroves and sheltered coastal waters.

The species readily uses artificial wetlands as well as natural ones. Suitable sites combine accessible open water for diving with trees, reeds, banks or other structures for resting, roosting and nesting.

Small fish form much of the diet, but frogs, crustaceans and aquatic insects are also taken. The importance of each prey type changes between wetlands and with season.

A study of breeding birds in South Africa's Free State found frogs and small fish forming much of the food, while research at Lake St Lucia found a diet more strongly dominated by fish in the large coastal wetland.

Long-tailed cormorants hunt by swimming low in the water before diving after prey. Underwater propulsion comes mainly from the large webbed feet while the wings remain folded against the body. Birds often make repeated short dives where prey is abundant, surfacing briefly between dives.

Feeding birds are often solitary or in small groups, and several individuals may use the same area when prey is concentrated.

The species is diurnal. After diving, individuals commonly perch with the wings spread, exposing wet plumage to air and sun before returning to the water. Larger numbers may share resting and overnight roosts.

Adults are generally resident, but local movements can be substantial as wetlands fill or dry. Birds readily shift between rivers, temporary pans, dams and larger lakes in response to rainfall, water levels and changing prey availability.

Long-tailed cormorants breed colonially, often sharing nesting areas with other waterbirds. Nests are usually stick platforms in trees, shrubs or dense vegetation over or close to water. Both parents incubate and care for the chicks.

Clutches commonly contain three or four eggs, although one to five have been recorded, and incubation lasts about 23–25 days. Breeding timing follows local water and food conditions rather than one continent-wide season. In a Free State study, breeding extended from October to April and showed two peaks in egg laying.

The chicks hatch naked and blind, with their eyes opening after about four days. A breeding study in KwaZulu-Natal found that young could leave the nest when alarmed at about 28 days but were not yet able to fly until around 35 days.

The long-tailed cormorant is classified as least concern on the IUCN Red List. It has a very large distribution across sub-Saharan Africa and Madagascar and uses both natural and artificial wetlands.

Local colonies and feeding areas can nevertheless be affected by wetland drainage, pollution, disturbance, entanglement in fishing gear and changes in water level or fish communities. These pressures can reduce suitable feeding and breeding habitat locally even though the species is not globally threatened.