? Cormorán de Brandt
Estado de conservación
IUCN 3.1
Clasificación científica
Reino:	Animalia
Filo:	Chordata
Clase:	Aves
Orden:	Pelecaniformes
Familia:	Phalacrocoracidae
Género:	Phalacrocorax
Especie:	P. penicillatus
Nombre binomial
Phalacrocorax penicillatus (Brandt, 1837)

El cormorán de Brandt es una especie de cormorán norteamericano-continental que puebla las costas del Pacífico desde Alaska hasta el Golfo de California.

Es estrictamente un ave marina de la familia de cormoránes de mar queines habitan a la costa pacífica de américa del norte. Su rango es en el verano desde alaska hasta el golfo de california aunque la poblacion al norte de la isla de vancouver migra al sur durante el invierno.

Its specific name, 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 1800s.

Brandt's Cormorants 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 Cormorant have been observed foraging at depths of over 40 feet.

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