SBA #11: Cormorant Chill-Out Corner
The cache, a small camo-taped tablet pot, is hidden close to the entrance to the SBA at the eastern corner of Pan 6, the location of a couple of wooden platforms where a gulp or sunning of these birds love to chill out and can be closely observed.
Note: the posted coordinates are for one of the bird platforms.
To find the cache coordinates - and a useful hint - click on the image above which will link to a jigsaw puzzle, completion of which will reveal the required information.
"The link to the website has not been checked by Groundspeak nor by the reviewer for possible malicious content and access to the site is therefore at your own risk"
The white-breasted cormorant (Phalacrocorax lucidus) is identified by its large size (80–100 cm long), glossy dark brown plumage, white underparts from throat to breast, and lack of a crest. The white area tends to increase as the bird becomes more mature and it develops a dark gular (throat) patch when breeding. Male and female are similar. It is classed as a subspecies of the Great Cormorant P. carbo by most bird authorities, whilst others regard it as a full species. Cormorants are more correctly known as waterbirds than seabirds, because they are rarely seen out to sea.
It usually prefers open water whether saline, brackish or fresh. It frequents shallow water near sea shores, but inland, it can be found around lakes, dams and rivers with abundant fish. It also frequents estuaries and deltas, mangrove swamps, coastal lagoons and bays – and as here, water treatment pans.
It is the only cormorant with strictly freshwater populations and the only one with a white breast and throat. It is widely distributed on the west coast from the Cape Verde Islands to Guinea-Bissau and from Angola to the Cape of Good Hope and on the east coast northwards to Mozambique (see Gallery map).
On inland waters it commonly occurs together with the reed cormorant and the African darter, but it is ecologically separated from these species by its fishing habits and the size and kind of its prey.
It is found singly or in groups on coastal rocks, islands and estuaries as well as large inland waters (like
here at SBA and Zeekovlei) where it often perches in dead trees.
It feeds on fish, crustaceans and occasionally molluscs. It swims and dives to a depth of about 10m for periods of up to 82 seconds in the sea – less in freshwater. It pursues its prey by swimming underwater, grabs it in the bill and usually swallows it immediately depending on the size. Its jaw is adapted to handle bottom-dwelling slow-moving fish but it may also catch fish living closer to the surface. Larger prey is brought back to the shore to be eaten. Other prey like crustaceans, amphibians and molluscs are snapped up rapidly.
It is often seen perched erect in open, often on exposed perches. It is both solitary and gregarious according to the season. It usually breeds in mixed-species colonies and often returns to sites and nests of the previous years. The male selects and defends the nest site and later tries to attract females. Courtship displays include wing-waving to expose the white thigh patches, showing and hiding them as the wings are moving.
Once the pair is formed, the pair-bond is strengthened by mutual preening, gurgling with head held upwards, and entwining the necks. They are monogamous, but most birds change partners every year. It is largely sedentary in its range, only moving with changes in water levels.
It has powerful flight, often low over water, with the head and neck outstretched. 
It breeds year-round, peaking September-December in the Western Cape, and January-July elsewhere. It breeds in colonies, usually <50 pairs, although they may reach several 100 pairs including darters, spoonbills and herons.
The male collects nest material, but the nest is built by the female in about a week - a flat platform of sticks, twigs and feathers, occasionally with debris and seaweeds. It is rapidly covered in guano, and often reused in several following years. It is placed on island, cliff-ledges, offshore rocks, shipwreck, pylon and other man-made structures.
The female lays 3-4 chalky white eggs with a greenish blue tinge when fresh. These are incubated between the large webbed feet and the belly feathers by both adults for 28-30 days for periods of 6 hours each with displays at changeover. Chicks are naked at hatching, but a black down grows quickly.
They are fed by both parents on regurgitated food. The weakest chicks often die quickly, and the strongest young are able to defend themselves against predators by swaying the head and lunging repeatedly. They fledge about 50 days after hatching and can fly 10 days later. They are still fed by parents for a further 6 weeks. The main threats for juveniles are predation, starvation and falling from cliffs.
It is usually silent, but at colonies and near the nest, it makes grunts, growls, squeals and hisses – listen here (at a noisy breeding colony – mainly screeching from juveniles with deep grunts from adults)
Its survival is threatened by disturbance on the breeding grounds, feral dogs, fishing lines at sea, oil pollution, diseases and fishermen who may kill the birds as they consider them competitors. The population has not been quantified, but it is listed as Endangered in some parts of the range, but it is not globally threatened.
See short videos here (swimming at 14m underwater), here (preening), here (on the Wild Coast) and here (funny neck movements).
