This dark seabird lives around the Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman. It dives below the surface to find food.
The plumage normally appears black overall, becoming more purplish during breeding.
Socotra cormorants breed along the Arabian Peninsula. On Siniya Island in the United Arab Emirates, researchers attached GPS loggers and temperature–depth recorders to 20 breeding adults during November 2012 and 2013. The devices were retrieved after two to five days, allowing the team to compare where the birds travelled with when they dived at sea.
The tracked birds used overlapping foraging grounds at the same times of day. The paper also reports observations of at-sea feeding flocks of up to 44,500 birds, about half of the colony. Dive records indicated that as many as 72% of birds could be underwater in potential contact with prey while feeding. Their movements show how a large seabird flock can search for and pursue schools of fish together.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
At Siniya Island, tracked birds used overlapping feeding grounds at the same times of day. The authors describe how large flocks can help birds locate prey and share information, and note that declining numbers could affect foraging success. They also identify human development as a pressure on the colony’s coastal habitat.