Urile penicillatus Skull or Brandt’s Cormorant measures 5.6 inches. Brandts Cormorant Female Skull is museum quality polyurethane cast. Made in USA. Cast of an original California Academy of Sciences specimen. 2-part skull (separate cranium and jaw).
Brandt’s cormorant or Urile penicillatus is a strictly marine bird of the cormorant family of seabirds that inhabits the Pacific coast of North America.
Urile penicillatus or Brandt’s Cormorants are large and heavy-bodied birds with long, skinny necks and ovular bodies. Both sexes are similar in size, measuring lengths between two and three feet, weighing three to six pounds, and with wingspans that reach nearly four feet across.
Urile penicillatus or Brandt’s Cormorants rely on a seafood diet for survival, primarily fish and squid. They hunt underwater, diving from the surface, using their sharp vision to search for prey. Using their hooked bills, they will chase their prey toward the surface, grab and crush it with their bill, and swallow it headfirst.
Urile penicillatus or Brandt’s Cormorants adapted to dive as deep as 230 feet (but usually dive about 40 feet) and hold their breaths for about three minutes.
Oftentimes, they hunt in flocks that include other seabirds like pelicans and shearwaters. Brandt’s Cormorants aren’t picky eaters. Scientists and experts have recorded at least 93 species of fish, squid, and the occasional crustacean as prey items, whether by stomach content analysis or observation.
Brandt’s Cormorants have a range spanning from Alaska to Mexico and are generally year-round residents of their home range but may complete short migrations in response to prey movement.
They make their nests on rocky islands and cliffs along the coastline and forage in nearshore areas near upwellings where nutrients move to the ocean’s surface and attract fish.
Normally, they don’t stray more than 10 miles inland from the shore unless they are migrating or displaced by human development or activity.
Brandt’s Cormorants are found in all five of the national marine sanctuaries on the west coast: Olympic Coast, Channel Islands, Monterey Bay, Greater Farallones, and Cordell Bank national marine sanctuaries.
Their primary breeding range between Washington State and Southern California and the Channel Islands near Santa Barbara, CA hosting a critical breeding colony.
