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.”