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. 

https://www.proaves.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Conservacion-Colombiana-22-San-Andres-Cormoranes-8-12.pdf

 

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.”