Great Cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo sinensis (Blumenbach, 1798) (Pelecaniformes, Aves) in Irkutsk Region: Reverse Colonization and Expansion

The article gives a detailed description of the secondary (reverse) settling of the western coast of Lake Baikal by the great cormorant after its long-term absence. It is shown that its appearance and fast increase in number is stipulated by deterioration of conditions in other parts of the range (long-time dryness in the northeast region of China and Mongolia) and migration of a big number of cormorants from these regions. Successful occupation of Baikal helped these birds to move to other water basins of the Irkutsk Region, first of all to the reservoirs of the Angara River cascade.