 nests along the rocky coastlines.
A Island home
Once capable of flight, the flightless cormorant now only swims and walks around the beautiful Galapagos Islands.
The El Nino event of 1982-1983 reduced the flightless cormorant’s population by half, but 18 months later, their numbers were back to normal.
In 1835, Charles Darwin used his observations of “the Galapagos Islands when constructing his theory of evolution for the topic On The Origin of Species.
Food & hunting
The cormorant is an efficient daytime hunter with a voracious appetite. It feeds mainly on fish, octopus, squid and eel, along with the occasional invertebrate and crustacean. The bird dives and expertly swims after its prey. The indigestible parts of its prey, such as scales and bones, are regurgitated as pellets. The cormorant feeds at least
With a little leap, the flightless cormorant dives from the shoreline into the cold water in search of food.
Using its powerful feet for propulsion, the cormorant spots an octopus and quickly changes direction to catch it.
Although it speeds off, the octopus is no match for the cormorant, which uses its hooked bill to catch and hold its prey.
The cormorant returns to the water’s surface and maneuvers the octopus by tilting back its head and gulping it down.
Breeding occurs throughout the year, but peaks from March to September. Unlike most cormorants, which begin courtship on land, the flightless cormorant starts its mating display on the water. This aquatic dance, which includes neck raising and bill movements, occurs from 10 days to 6 weeks before egg laying; the pair bonds at the nest site just before mating.
The female lays from 1-4 eggs in a large nest made of seaweed. Both sexes share incubation duties; the eggs then hatch after about 35 days. Born naked and helpless, chicks are fed regurgitated food by the parents and fledge at about 60 days. Relatively few chicks survive to adulthood, though: breeding success is low due to predators, such as feral dogs, which kill chicks and eat eggs.
The chicks start