Microcarbo niger
Silhouette: L. Shyamal · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~70% 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 →
Call1:11
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 |
Likely
About 40% of wildlife watchers report a Little Cormorant sighting in Udawalawe National Park on a given day, based on 186 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 56th most-seen of the 166 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 70%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February and August
In those months about 50% of wildlife watchers report a Little Cormorant in Udawalawe National Park on a given day, against about 20% in May, the lowest month. Those are among Udawalawe National Park's driest months, with about 80 mm of rain a month against 330 mm in November.
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.
13th of 29
Of the 29 parks where we can rate Little Cormorant sightings, Udawalawe National Park ranks 13th at about 40%. The best odds are in Keoladeo National Park (India, about 70%), Kaziranga National Park (India, about 70%) and Yala National Park (Sri Lanka, about 60%). All parks ranked.
Same family: Phalacrocoracidae
The closest relatives of the Little Cormorant that you can see in Udawalawe National Park (family Phalacrocoracidae, Cormorants and Shags) are Indian Cormorant (about 30%) and Great Cormorant (about 20%), 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 Udawalawe National Park (186 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), 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.
