Brandts Cormorant Female Skull

Description

Brandts Cormorant Female Skull measures 5.6 inches. Brandts Cormorant Female Skull is museum quality polyurethane cast. Made in USA. Polyurethane cast of an original California Academy of Sciences specimen. Phalacrocorax penicillatus is the scientific name. Our precise skull can be used as a teaching tool, museum skull exhibit, home decor skull, or office decor skull.

Phalacrocoracidae is a family of some 40 species of aquatic birds commonly known as Cormorants and Shags. Cormorants and shags are medium-to-large birds, with body weight in the range of 0.77–11.02 lbs. and wing span of 18–39 in. The majority of species have dark feather.

The Brandts Cormorant or Phalacrocorax penicillatus is a strictly marine bird of the cormorant family of seabirds that inhabits the Pacific coast of North America. It ranges, in the summer, from Alaska to the Gulf of California, but the population north of Vancouver Island migrates south during the winter.

Its specific name, Phalacrocorax penicillatus is Latin for a painter’s brush (pencil of hairs), in reference to white plumes on its neck and back during the early breeding season. The common name honors the German naturalist Johann Friedrich von Brandt of the Academy of Sciences at St. Petersburg, who described the species from specimens collected on expeditions to the Pacific during the early 19th century.

Brandts cormorants or Phalacrocorax penicillatus feed either singly or in flocks, and are adaptable in prey choice and undersea habitat. It feeds on small fish from the surface to sea floor, obtaining them, like all cormorants, by pursuit diving using its feet for propulsion. Prey is often what is most common: in central California, rockfish from the genus Sebastes is the most commonly taken, but off British Columbia, it is Pacific herring. Brandt’s cormorants or Phalacrocorax penicillatus have been observed foraging at depths of over 120 feet .

During the breeding season, adults have a blue throat patch. This species nests on the ground or on rocky outcroppings.

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