The Story
I made this photo of a Neotropic Cormorant (Nannopterum brasilianum) at Hacienda El Escobal in Ibagué, Tolima, Colombia. Unlike other cormorants, it is often seen perching on wires. It feeds mainly on small fish, diving and pushing itself underwater with its feet. Groups sometimes beat the water with their wings to drive fish into the shallows. It lives on coasts, including some mangroves, and on inland waters. Cortolima lists El Escobal, on the Meseta de Ibagué, among the city’s 13 priority birding routes. Hacienda El Escobal is part of the Picaleña lagoon complex, and by eBird’s December 2021 data 309 bird species had been reported there.
I used a Pentax K-1 with the HD Pentax-D FA 150-450mm f/4.5-5.6 for this one, at 1/1250 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200. IUCN lists the Neotropic Cormorant as Least Concern, with an increasing population.
©2019 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Neotropic Cormorant (Nannopterum brasilianum) belongs to the family Phalacrocoracidae (Cormorants and Shags) in the eBird/Clements taxonomy.
Source: eBird.org (opens in a new tab)
Conservation
Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (assessment published 2018), with the population trend listed as increasing. Source: IUCN Red List