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Mystery Bird: Long-tailed Cormorant, Phalacrocorax africanus

This article is more than 13 years old
This African mystery bird is a member of a family of birds that are often persecuted by fishermen as competitors because these birds also eat fish

Long-tailed Cormorant, also known as the Reed Cormorant, Phalacrocorax africanus (formerly; Halietor africanus, and Microcarbo africanus), photographed at Kilombero River Valley, Tanzania, Africa.

Image: Dan Logen, 9 January 2010 [with binoculars].
Nikon D300, 600 mm lens, ISO 320, f/7.1, 1/1000 sec.

This African mystery bird is a Long-tailed Cormorant, Phalacrocorax africanus, a member of a family of birds (Phalacrocoracidae) that are often persecuted by fishermen as "competitors" because these birds also eat fish. Unfortunately, the fishermen's problems with dwindling fish stocks is because of their own rapacious behaviors, not due to the cormorants' behaviors.

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