Microcarbo niger
Silhouette: L. Shyamal · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~60% in a week ~90%
The little cormorant (Microcarbo niger) is a member of the cormorant family of seabirds. Slightly smaller than the Indian cormorant it lacks a peaked head and has a shorter beak. It is widely distributed across the Indian subcontinent and extends east to Java, where it is sometimes called the Javanese cormorant. It forages singly or sometimes in loose groups in lowland freshwater bodies, including small ponds, large lakes, streams and sometimes coastal estuaries. Like other cormorants, it is often found perched on a waterside rock with its wings spread out after coming out of the water. The entire body is black in the breeding season but the plumage is brownish, and the throat has a small whitish patch in the non-breeding season. These birds breed gregariously in trees, often joining other waterbirds at heronries.
The little cormorant is about 50 centimetres (20 in) long and only slightly smaller than the Indian cormorant (Phalacrocorax fuscicollis). The Indian cormorant has a narrower and longer bill which ends in a prominent hook tip, blue iris and a more pointed head profile. The breeding adult bird has a glistening all black plumage with some white spots and filoplumes... Wikipedia →
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Thailand · 2025
© Greg Irving · XC973069 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Savar | 🇧🇩 Bangladesh | |
| 2 | Vasai-Virar | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 3 | Raipur | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 4 | Tamluk | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 5 | Dhaka | 🇧🇩 Bangladesh | |
| 6 | Hajipur | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 7 | Ponnani | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 8 | Thiruvananthapuram | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 9 | Kochi | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 10 | Tiruchirappalli | 🇮🇳 India |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Saigon Zoo and Botanical Gardens | 🇻🇳 Vietnam |
Possible
About 30% of wildlife watchers report a Little Cormorant sighting in Madurai on a given day, based on 284 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 22nd most-seen of the 118 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 60%, and over a week to about 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January and October
In those months about 40% of wildlife watchers report a Little Cormorant in Madurai on a given day, against about 10% in May, the lowest month.
Between 3 and 6 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Little Cormorant sightings with a recorded time, and about 6 in 10 of them come between 6 pm and 6 am: it is most active around dawn and dusk.
45th of 76
Of the 76 cities where we can rate Little Cormorant sightings, Madurai ranks 45th at about 30%. The best odds are in Savar (Bangladesh, about 80%), Vasai-Virar (India, about 70%) and Raipur (India, about 60%).
Same family: Phalacrocoracidae
The closest relatives of the Little Cormorant that you can see in Madurai (family Phalacrocoracidae, Cormorants and Shags) are Indian Cormorant (about 10%) and Great Cormorant (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Little Cormorant is recorded against all the birds logged in Madurai (284 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
