Nannopterum auritum
Order Suliformes
Family Phalacrocoracidae
Adult.— Apparently entirely black; in breeding plumage a tuft of feathers rises from each side of the head, but these are wanting after mid-summer.
Immature.— Head and neck and under parts grayish-brown.
The Double-crested Cormorant is a summer resident from the Isle au Haut northward, and occurs as a not uncommon migrant along the coast of New York and New England, passing north in April and May, and returning from August to November. It winters sparingly in southern New England and off the Maine coast (Knight).
When seen off our coast, Cormorants are generally flying at some distance above the water, with necks outstretched, and look like dark-colored geese or very large ducks. Their wings look large in proportion to the bird, and their wingstrokes are much slower than a loon’s. Occasionally they light on a point of rock or a spar-buoy, when they bend the neck in a characteristic curve. When they perch, they squat on their tails and feet, and stand nearly upright. When thus sitting they often spread their wings and hold them for some time in what Dr. Townsend has called a “spread-eagle” posture, resembling that bird as pictured on our coins and coat of arms.
Hoffmann – A Guide to the Birds of New England and Eastern New York (1904)