Cormorants

Pygmy Cormorant

Zwergscharbe

Microcarbo pygmaeus

Cormorants39 photosFirst seen: 4 September 2026

The Pygmy Cormorant is a small freshwater cormorant centred on southeastern Europe and western and central Asia. It feeds in shallow vegetated water and often rests communally on low branches, posts and dead trees.

ID tip: It is much smaller and shorter-billed than Great Cormorant, with a proportionally long tail and a small rounded head. Adults are dark brown-black; breeding birds show fine white flecking on the head and body.

First seen: 4 September 2026 · Lake Skadar · 39 photos in the collection.

Places in my records

Locations where this species is supported by a dated first record, an unambiguous single-place outing or a reviewed assignment.

Lake Skadar4 September 2026 Ulcinj Salt Flats6 September 2026

Family: Cormorants (Phalacrocoracidae)
Length: 45–55 cm
Wingspan: 75–90 cm
Regional status: Year-round resident (Montenegro)
Conservation: Least Concern LCIUCN Red List · retrieved 5 September 2026
Habitat: Freshwater lakes, deltas, slow rivers, reedbeds and flooded woodland
Diet: Small fish, amphibians, crustaceans and aquatic invertebrates

Built from verified occurrence records, not drawn by hand. Core range = the countries holding 99% of all records; the rest are scattered or vagrant records. Record counts track where people watch birds as much as where the birds are, so the map shows presence, not abundance. Data: GBIF (CC BY 4.0). Basemap: Natural Earth.

Selected photographs

Complete photo archiveAll 39 published photographs of this species, including the selected main gallery.Open all 39 photos in the archive →