A Misidentification

When the tide permits, there is always a collection of cormorants on the peninsula of rocks which juts out into the sea near Dunrobin Castle, many of them young and many often  holding their wings out to dry in the breeze. They're not particularly attractive birds even less so....

....when they're dead on the beach but this corpse of a juvenile gave me pause for thought. I've been calling these birds 'cormorants' but looking at it I'm fairly sure it's a shag. The two species are very similar but one feature was quite clear: cormorants....

....have bare skin round their eyes and this one hasn't. So I've a sinking feeling that, for the past few years, I've been misidentifying these birds - though in fairness to myself, all the descriptions of how to tell them apart admit they are difficult to distinguish, particularly at a distance.

However, this picture - courtesy John Coveney on Flikr, here - does a good job. The nearer bird is a shag which has a crest, a sleeker build, a longer neck, more limited yellow around the base of the beak, and is blacker, while a cormorant may also have a white flash just below its wings and under its chin. Further, cormorants are more common on inland waters, have a heavier bill, sit lower in the water and, if you can get close enough see them, striking green eyes. John was lucky with this picture as he has two adults showing almost all the relevant distinguishing features.

Oh dear - I hate making mistakes in identification, even more when they have been going on for years. It's embarrassing but, as they say, better late than never.