Watch the Brandt’s Cormorant nest webcam on Alcatraz Island
HD bird cam livestream
The Alcatraz Bird Nest Webcam is back online! But the stars of the livestream look a little different this year… Introducing the new family, Brandt’s Cormorants! These diving seabirds have nested on Alcatraz in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area since 1991. Streaming live from a former Peregrine Falcon nesting site, this nest camera offers a rare look at these fascinating waterbirds as they court, build nests, incubate eggs, and (hopefully) raise chicks.
This incredible opportunity to observe the nesting site was made possible through a collaboration between the National Park Service (NPS) and the Parks Conservancy, who worked together to plan, fund, and implement the installation of a webcam and live feed of the bird nest.
The camera and livestream are intended to provide visual monitoring of ongoing cormorant nesting activity. The National Park Service typically does not intervene in natural processes, including cormorant behavior. Additionally, the nest with the camera is not accessible. As a result, the NPS will not intervene—even in cases of a dirty lens, or if the livestream shows evidence of illness, injury, or siblicide.
Want to visit Alcatraz to see them for yourself? Get your tickets via Alcatraz City Cruises. While you’re on the island, don’t miss the Birds in a Changing Climate exhibit to learn about the island’s wild side.
The Parks Conservancy gratefully acknowledges the Helen and Will Webster Foundation for their generous support of the nesting webcam on Alcatraz.
Arriving on island in 2020, a pair of Peregrine Falcons (one known as Lawrencium and the other was her mate) successfully fledged 2-4 chicks each year—quite the feat! Both falcons were seen around the island in January, seemingly getting ready for the nesting season. But by mid-February, when the pair should have been performing courtship displays and preparing their nest, the falcons were nowhere to be seen. This mirrors a similar situation across the Bay Area at UC Berkeley, where Larry’s mom Annie also disappeared from her nesting territory. Neither pair of falcons have returned for the nesting season in 2025.
National Park Service (NPS) biologists believe this is due to Highly Pathogen Avian Influenza (HPAI), a deadly strain of avian flu that is currently circulating in North America. As birds who specialize in eating birds, peregrine falcons are particularly at risk of contracting this disease. Unfortunately, biologists believe that Larry, her mate, and the Berkeley falcons likely died due to HPAI. This is a distressing turn of events for a species known to be a conservation success story, having returned from the brink of extinction due to pesticides, like DDT, usage and its impact on birds.
Cormorants are a group of diving waterbirds who specialize in fish-eating. Everything about cormorants is optimized for swimming—from their huge, asymmetrical feet that propel them underwater, to their non-waterproof feathers which soak up water and allow them to reach depths of 200 feet. Many are familiar with a common cormorant behavior: standing with their wings spread out in the sun to dry them off after swimming. Cormorants can be found all over the world—including Antarctica—but only one species nests on Alcatraz: the Brandt’s Cormorant.
Brandt’s Cormorants have nested on Alcatraz since 1991, when they first colonized the old prison incinerator on the west side of the island. That first year, there were just 3 pairs cormorants nesting on Alcatraz. By 2006, there were over 1,000 pairs nesting on Alcatraz. In 2023, the population had grown to 4,826 nests, expanding to more than 20 distinctive sub-colonies around the island. Brandt's Cormorants are found only on the Pacific coast of North America. Alcatraz is regularly in the top 3 largest breeding colonies for Bradnt's cormorants, cementing its continued importance as a seabird sanctuary.
The cormorants may be exhibiting a variety of behaviors on the Nest Cam.
Early in the season, they will be performing courtship displays, which involve throwing their head back to show off their strikingly blue necks, and sometimes a waggle of the wings to draw attention to their display.
Once they have attracted a mate, the cormorants will collect nesting material such as seaweed to create a suitable nest for their eggs. Soon after, the female will lay 3-4 eggs. Both adults will incubate the eggs for around 35 days—the eggs are best viewed when the parents switch off incubation duties, otherwise the cormorants sit tight to their nests to keep the eggs safe.
Cormorant chicks hatch after around 35 days of being incubated. Unlike other species on the island, cormorant chicks are born featherless and helpless. Cormorant chicks remain in the nest bowl, underneath their parents, for several weeks. As the chicks grow, they will become more mobile, and venture outside the nest!
Worry not! While it may look like the adult cormorants are eating their offspring, they are in fact feeding them. Cormorants feed their chicks using regurgitation, meaning the adults catch fish, store it in a "pre-stomach" called the crop, and then bring the stored food back up to feed their chicks. Cormorants have developed a strategy to prevent fish from being stolen when they regurgitate it: the cormorant chicks stick their entire head into the mouth of their parent, and receive food directly from the crop. This may look alarming, but this is natural!
Brandt’s Cormorants nest primarily on the West side of the island. When visiting Alcatraz, visitors can tour along the scenic West Road, and view the Brandt’s Cormorant colonies with a beautiful backdrop of the Golden Gate Bridge.
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