Brandt's Cormorant

Urile penicillatus (Brandt, JF, 1837)

Brandt's Cormorant, Urile penicillatus, is a marine bird of the cormorant family along the Pacific coast of North America, breeding from south-east Alaska to south-west Baja California and the central Gulf of California. Outside the breeding season it extends north to the central Gulf of Alaska and south to west-central Mexico. It is named for Johann Friedrich von Brandt, who described it in 1837. The scientific name refers to brush-like white plumes on the neck and back seen early in the breeding period.

Order

Suliformes

Family

Phalacrocoracidae — Cormorants, Shags

Breeding range

North America, Middle America: temperate e North Pacific coast: se Alaska to sw Baja California and c Gulf of California (nw Mexico)

Nonbreeding range

to c Gulf of Alaska and to wc Mexico