Proposal (1043) to South American Classification Committee
Add Phalacrocorax
auritus (Double-crested Cormorant) to main list
Un individuo con plumaje inmaduro fue registrado y
fotografiado por Victor Alfonso Silva Cordero, Jose Quintero y Lermith Torres
el 1 de marzo de 2025 en Caimare Chico, Zulia-Venezuela (11,253N, -71,895W;
Fig.1). El registro fue aprobado por el Comité de Registros de las Aves de
Venezuela, una vez fue publicado en eBird en el checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S216153317. Previamente solo existía un registro reportado en Bonaire, pero sin
evidencia, entre el 16 y el 19 de septiembre de 1979 (Prins et al. 2009).
Figura
1. Ubicación del primer registro con evidencia de Phalacrocorax auritus
en Suramérica. El punto amarillo con la letra “P” al norte de la ciudad de
Maracaibo en Venezuela corresponde a la localidad registrada en ebird.org para
el registro.
Algunas de las 11 fotos que formaron parte de la
evidencia evaluada se muestran a continuación:
Basados en la evidencia mostrada y ubicación
geográfica, sugerimos sacar a la especie de la lista de hipotéticos y añadir a
la lista principal del SACC, siendo esta una especie “V” para Venezuela y para
Suramérica.
Referencias:
CHECKLIST
OF THE BIRDS OF ARUBA, CURAÇAO AND BONAIRE, SOUTH CARIBBEAN.—T. J. Prins, J. H. Reuter, A. O.
Debrot, J. Wattel, and V. Nijman.
2009. Ardea 97(2):137–268. ISSN:
0373-2266.
Jhonathan
Miranda, marzo de 2025
Addendum
from Areta:
Thomas
Donegan has shared the following information with Jhonathan and me one month
ago (7 Mar 2025), and because I agree in that it is worth bringing them to SACC
attention, I share this:
"Talvez valdria la pena mencionar que hay
varios registros en Colombia, pero todos son en las islas de San Andres y
Providencia, que son fuera de la zona SACC:
Providencia
(2001) sight record:
Salaman,
P.G.W., Bayly, N., Burridge, R., Grantham, M., Gurney, M., Quevedo, A., Urueña,
L.E. & Donegan, T. 2008a. Sixteen bird species new for Colombia.
Conservación Colombiana 5: 80–85.
https://proaves.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Checklist_revision_2008_Con_Colombiana_5_80-85.pdf
https://ebird.org/checklist/S59468873
San
Andres (2015) sight record close up, with photograph taken later when bird was
further away, that is not definitive enough to count as confirmed:
Donegan,
T.M. & Huertas, B.C. 2015. Noteworthy bird records on San Andrés island,
Colombia. Conservación Colombiana 22: 8-12.
Providencia
confirmed photographic record (Felipe Estela, 2019):
https://ebird.org/checklist/S60246713"
Vote tracking chart:
https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCPropChart968-1043.htm
Comments
from Mark Pearman:
“YES. The orange loral and gular skin confirms the species identification. The
ventral plumage indicates a first year juvenile.”
Comments
from Remsen:
“YES. Just at a glance, this looks like
DCCO solely by shape and proportions: big bill, thick neck, stocky, looks big,
and looks like it has short tail (although hard to tell from angle). The orange
tones in facial skin and bill also strongly suggest DCCO., Regardless, the bare lores and shape of rear
end of gular patch (angle not strongly acute) diagnoses this as a P./N.
auritus(m). None of our
various austral cormorants look anything like this.”
Comments
from Stiles:
“I had one doubt: P. brasilianum juveniles also are largely whitish
below, but the pattern differs from P. auritum in showing brownish neck
and sides. Looking through pages of photos of auritum, its juvenile
plumage shows completely white foreneck and underparts, just as in the bird in
Miranda's photo: so YES - definitely a valid record!”
Comments
from Robbins:
“YES. The photos clearly show definitive characters for a young Double-crested.
So, Yes for adding to the list.”
Comments
from Claramunt:
“NO. I’m not convinced. The lightness of the ventral parts is suggestive but
seems within the range of variation of brasilianum (examples: https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/630800350
https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/38212871). I don’t think the
lorum is naked enough; auritum shows a clearcut nude line that is more
supraloral. I don’t see that in these photos.”
Comments
from Donna L. Dittmann (voting for Jaramillo): “YES - I agree with the identification
as a Double-crested Cormorant based on the bird's apparent size next to
Laughing Gulls; overall structure is more stout, it has a relatively
longer-looking bill, thickish neck, and shorter tail - all characters that
better support Double-crested. The orange gular is more extensive and visibly
wraps under the bill unlike that of Neotropical. Although hard to discern on
the photos, it looks like it also has orange loral skin. The extensively pale
underparts are also better for young Double-crested; Neotrops tend to be
darker.”
Comments
from Bonaccorso:
“YES, for the reasons stated by Pearman and Remsen. Very interesting new
record! I hope they can find out if there are adults in the area or this is
just a vagrant.”
Comments
from Areta:
“YES. The identification of this juvenile bird seems trickier than anticipated,
IF one accepts that brasilianum can
also have such ventrally pale individuals as pictured in the photos that
Santiago shared. I´ve never personally encountered any extremely pale juvenile brasilianum (and I don´t think that they
occur in southern South America), but given that there is so much variation in
colour of juveniles in auritum (with
most birds presumably being on the pale end, and few on the dark end), it could
well be that there are a few extremely pale birds in brasilianum. However, as Van and Donna have pointed out, several
structural features align very well with auritum
and not with brasilianum (large bill,
thick neck, short tail), while the orange gular and supraloral discard brasilianum as indicated by Mark.”
Comments
from Lane:
“YES. Identification seems straight-forward, and N. auritum/N.
brasilianum differentiation is one I (and other Louisiana-based voters
here) have to make regularly, so I feel well-primed to say this here.”
Additional
comments from Claramunt: “I see that I did not persuade anybody with my previous
comments. Here is an image illustrating my point about the loral band. The bird
from Caimare Chico doesn’t have the conspicuous naked loral band of P.
auritus (including juvs.). All other traits mentioned are either hard to
judge from a photo or within the range of variation of brasilianus.
Additional
comments from Remsen:
I change my vote to NO. I still think
it’s likely a DCCO for all the reasons stated, but after looking through
several hundred Macaulay photos sorted by March and “JUV” or “IMM”, I can’t
find one that has so little trace of an actual stripe. Even the palest DCCO that I found had a
continuous, nearly bare, straight stripe from above the eye into the lores, and
virtually all of them had an orangish tone to the skin. Also, the angle of the gular patch is not as
diagnostic as I thought it was. For a
first record for the SACC area, I think the evidence should be
incontrovertible, and I think this one fails that standard., so my “NO” is in
part based on a matter of principle.”
Additional
comments from Lane:
“Huh, I agree with Santiago with these photos! The bird on the left is
Neotropical after all. Please change my vote accordingly to NO!