Little Pied Cormorant

The Little Pied Cormorant (Microcarbo melanoleucos) is a distinctive Australian bird that can often be identified by a combination of plumage, shape, behaviour and voice. A small cormorant with black upperparts and cap contrasting with a white face, throat and underparts. The bill is short and dark compared with larger cormorants. Adults are typically about 50–55 cm long, so size can be a useful clue when you compare the bird with nearby species.

How to identify a Little Pied Cormorant

A small cormorant with black upperparts and cap contrasting with a white face, throat and underparts. The bill is short and dark compared with larger cormorants. When you are trying to identify one in the field, start with overall size and body shape, then check the head pattern, bill, wing markings, tail and any unusually bright colours. Lighting can change how feathers look, so it is safer to use several features together rather than relying on one colour.

Little Pied Cormorants dive from the water surface and pursue prey underwater. After feeding they commonly perch with wings spread to dry. Behaviour is often just as useful as plumage. A bird that repeatedly uses a particular feeding style, posture or flight pattern can be much easier to identify even when it is partly hidden or too far away for a perfect view.

Where does the Little Pied Cormorant live in Australia?

Widespread across Australia on both inland and coastal waters.

Typical habitat includes lakes, rivers, farm dams, wetlands, estuaries and sheltered coastal water. The best places to look are areas that combine suitable food with safe roosting or nesting sites. Distribution can shift locally with rainfall, flowering, breeding seasons and food availability, so a species may be common in one district and much harder to find only a short distance away.

What does the Little Pied Cormorant eat?

Small fish, crustaceans and other aquatic animals caught by diving. The exact menu can change with season and location. Wild birds generally do best when they can use natural food sources, so this guide describes normal feeding ecology rather than encouraging people to offer processed human food.

Watching how a bird feeds can also help with identification. Note whether it forages on the ground, probes mud, takes nectar from flowers, hunts from a perch, dives into water or catches insects in flight.

Behaviour and calls

Little Pied Cormorants dive from the water surface and pursue prey underwater. After feeding they commonly perch with wings spread to dry.

They are usually quiet away from colonies, where grunts and croaks may be heard. Learning even one characteristic call can be extremely helpful because many Australian birds are heard before they are seen. Calls can vary with alarm, courtship, contact between flock members and time of day, so use voice together with visual clues.

Nesting and breeding

Stick nests are often built over water in trees or dense wetland vegetation, sometimes in mixed colonies with other waterbirds. Breeding timing varies across Australia and can be influenced by latitude, rainfall and local conditions. If you find an active nest or dependent young, observe from a respectful distance so the adults can continue normal feeding and defence behaviour.

Similar birds

Pied Cormorants are considerably larger with a longer bill. Little Black Cormorants are all dark rather than black-and-white. If you are unsure, compare bill shape, body proportions, eye colour, leg colour and voice as well as plumage. Photographs taken from different angles can be especially useful for checking difficult features after the sighting.

Quick identification tip

For a fast identification, remember three things: the bird is approximately 50–55 cm long; its key visual clue is a small cormorant with black upperparts and cap contrasting with a white face, throat and underparts. The bill is short and dark compared with larger cormorants.; and its usual Australian setting is lakes, rivers, farm dams, wetlands, estuaries and sheltered coastal water. Those three clues will usually narrow the options quickly before you compare similar species.