A number of recent authors (Gabrielson 1940, 1944; Murie 1959; and others) have considered the pelagic cormorant to be the most widely distributed and abundant of the four species found in Alaska. Since the modern picture fits, in a general way at least, it would be easy to conclude that the species enjoys an unchanged status. There is just a faint suggestion that this may not be true.
Dement'ev and Gladkov (1966) refer to a great die-off of pelagic cormorants referred to earlier, in the Commander Islands. Stejneger (1885) enlarges on this disaster. It is true that Stejneger visited these islands a relatively short time after the die-off, but he reported that even though the pelagic cormorants were increasing, "people having seen their former multitude think that there is no comparison between the past and the present." Murie (1959) thought that the pelagic cormorant, while numerous, was outnumbered by the red-faced cormorant in the Aleutians. More recently there has been the rapid eastward expansion of the red-faced cormorant. Although it is not possible to determine what the real status of the pelagic cormorant is relative to its past status, I conclude that during this century its status relative to that of the red-faced cormorant has declined.
Red-faced Cormorant (Phalacrocorax urile)
The red-faced cormorant, in spite of superficial similarities to the pelagic cormorant, just does not look the same to an experienced observer. However, it would have been possible for inexperienced observers in the days before modern optics to overlook the differences. The problem was further compounded by the "invisibility" of the ubiquitous cormorants referred to earlier. Apparent absences or blank spots in their range may not have been real.
Dement'ev and Gladkov (1966), reporting on the Russian record, stated that the red-faced cormorant was common in the Commander Islands during the last part of the 19th century and into the early part of the 20th. Older authors had also reported it from Kamchatka and the Kurile Islands. Now, according to Dement'ev and Gladkov, it is an uncommon breeder on Mednyi Island in the Commander Islands and occurs only as an autumn visitor to some of the southern Kurile Islands.
Turner (1885) reported that the double-crested cormorant was abundant in the Near Islands and that the pelagic cormorant was common, but makes no reference to the red-faced cormorant. One specimen of the latter in the Leningrad Academy of Science was taken at Attu on 16 September 1844 (Gabrielson and Lincoln 1959), which indicates that they were probably present during the period reported on by Turner and, therefore, relatively uncommon. Clark (1911) identified red-faced cormorants only a few times and in the Aleutians only once, near Agattu. Dall (1874) noted two red-faced cormorants collected at Amchitka but he (Dall 1873) apparently did not see any east of Unalaska.
Nelson (1887) apparently found red-faced cormorants breeding on the Siberian and Alaskan mainlands at either side of Bering Strait, but Bailey (1948) searched for some sign of their presence and found none. Nelson (1887) also reported the red-faced cormorant from St. Matthew and St. Lawrence islands in the northern Bering Sea and from St. Michael and Nelson Island on the Alaskan coast. Gabrielson and Lincoln (1959) pointed out that it has not been found breeding north of the Pribilofs since then. Friedmann (1934) provides support for Nelson by reporting red-faced cormorant bones from archeological sites on St. Lawrence. Gabrielson and Lincoln (1959) cited two red-faced cormorants in the Leningrad Academy of Science which were collected in the Pribilofs in 1843. Dall and Bannister (1869) reported them to be plentiful on St. George Island. Baird (1869) also noted their presence in the Pribilofs.
Bent (1964) makes no mention of seeing the red-faced cormorant in the Aleutians. He gives their breeding range as the Bering Sea region, the Pribilof Islands, and perhaps the western Aleutians, the Commander Islands, and the coast of Siberia north of North Cape. The American Ornithologists' Union (1931) gave their breeding range as the Pribilof Islands, the Commander Islands, and Siberia north to North Cape.
Murie (1959) found a colony of between 4,000 and 5,000 red-faced cormorants nesting on Amak Island in 1925. In 1936 he was surprised to find that the red-faced cormorant was the most abundant breeding cormorant in the Aleutian Islands. Pelagic cormorants still appeared to be most numerous, but there were large numbers of nonbreeding birds. In 1936 he located "a good sized colony" of red-faced cormorants at Unga in the Shumagin Islands. He found about 300 birds starting their nests on 16 May.
In August 1946 Gabrielson (Gabrielson and Lincoln 1959) visited the colony at Delarof Harbor, Unga, where several thousand cormorants were observed. From a number of small samples he estimated that the red-faced cormorants outnumbered pelagic cormorants five to two. In 1973 I observed about 2,000 cormorants, mostly red-faced, in this colony. Gabrielson also located them at two other sites in the Shumagins and at Aghiyuk Island in the Semidi Islands.