Cormorant - Breeding

Cormorants nest in colonies, sometimes numbering thousands of birds. The nests are usually built on rocky cliffs, rocky islets or sometimes by rivers and lakes, even in trees. The nest is large and bowl-shaped, built of twigs, grasses, seaweed or reeds and becomes plastered with the birds' droppings. During courtship, cormorants wave their long necks about and the female may bend her neck right over her back. 2 - 4 eggs are laid and are incubated by both parents for about a month. The newly-hatched young are naked and have skins like black leather but later grow a curly, dark grey down. They are fed once a day by each parent with regurgitated fish; the chicks take this by pushing their heads down their parent's gullet. The chicks leave the nest and can fly in 5 - 8 weeks.