The Unusual Flightless Cormorant

There aren’t many birds named for something they can’t do, but with its comically stubby wings, flightlessness may be the Flightless Cormorant’s most notable feature. Those wings are only one third the size they would need to be to lift this bulky bird into the air. So why is this unusual bird the way it is?


Flightless Cormorants live only on Isabela and Fernandina Islands in the Galapagos. Their isolated home has a constant climate, plenty of food, suitable nesting sites, and few predators. This means the cormorants have little need to take flight, so through evolution they have sacrificed that ability and become honed for an aquatic lifestyle. Large wings trap air and create drag in the water, so over time the wings have become smaller to facilitate speedy and efficient swimming. The cormorants use their powerful feet to paddle after the fish and octopi they love to eat.