Red-faced Cormorant

Red-faced Cormorant (Urile urile) is a compact northern Pacific cormorant with glossy dark plumage and vivid red bare skin around the face in breeding condition. Body shape, bill structure, plumage pattern and voice provide the strongest field characters. Age, sex and season may alter its appearance, so identification should combine several features and careful direct field comparisons with similar species in the same habitat (Wikipedia, general species account).

It remains close to rocky coasts, diving for fish and marine invertebrates and nesting on cliff ledges and offshore rocks. Its movements and social behaviour vary through the year, with breeding birds generally more dispersed and non-breeding birds gathering where food is concentrated. Japanese records place it within the country's documented avifauna as a resident, migrant or visitor (Wikipedia, general species account; Wildlife of Japan occurrence records).