Pygmy Cormorant
The Pygmy Cormorant is the smallest member of the cormorant family of seabirds and is a medium-sized green-glossed black bird with a long tail and short thick bill. Adults have small white feather tufts on the head, neck and underparts in the breeding season. The sexes are similar, but juveniles are duller and browner. The Pygmy Cormorant is distinguished from the Great Cormorant and the Common Shag by its much smaller size, lighter build and long tail.
The Pygmy Cormorant can be found along the east coasts of the Adriatic Sea, the northern Aegean Sea, the Black Sea eastwards to the Caspian Sea and in Iraq. The Pygmy Cormorant breeds in Albania, Greece, Bulgaria, Turkey, Romania, Moldavia, Ukraine, Russia, Azerbaijan and Iraq while a few pairs also breed in Hungary and Slovakia. The biggest colony is located in Danube Delta in Romania and numbers 4,000 pairs.
In Greece the most important colonies are located at Lake Mikri Prespa and Lake Kerkini. The Pygmy Cormorant also formerly bred in the Axios Delta, at Lake Ismarida and Lake Kastoria, in the Evros Delta and at Porto Lagos. The most important wintering areas in Greece are mainly the large wetlands of Thrace and Macedonia.
The Pygmy Cormorant can be found in wetlands with still or slowly flowing fresh water and more rarely in coastal wetlands. It builds nests from sticks and reeds in dense vegetation, in trees, shrubs, willows but occasionally in reeds on small floating islets, either alone with Great Cormorants, Spoonbills and heron and egret species.
The Pygmy Cormorant feeds on small fish and rarely on small aquatic mammals and molluscs which are caught by diving. It often hunts in groups and perches in trees between fishing expeditions.
The Pygmy Cormorant is a species with habitats strongly affected by human actions. Threats include the drainage and serious degradation of wetlands and their associated woodland, water pollution, disturbance, poaching as well as drowning in fishing nets. Being a great fish consumer and destroyer of fishing nets, it is often persecuted by fishermen.
Date: 12th May 2015
Location: Lake Kerkini, Central Macedonia, Greece
The Pygmy Cormorant can be found along the east coasts of the Adriatic Sea, the northern Aegean Sea, the Black Sea eastwards to the Caspian Sea and in Iraq. The Pygmy Cormorant breeds in Albania, Greece, Bulgaria, Turkey, Romania, Moldavia, Ukraine, Russia, Azerbaijan and Iraq while a few pairs also breed in Hungary and Slovakia. The biggest colony is located in Danube Delta in Romania and numbers 4,000 pairs.
In Greece the most important colonies are located at Lake Mikri Prespa and Lake Kerkini. The Pygmy Cormorant also formerly bred in the Axios Delta, at Lake Ismarida and Lake Kastoria, in the Evros Delta and at Porto Lagos. The most important wintering areas in Greece are mainly the large wetlands of Thrace and Macedonia.
The Pygmy Cormorant can be found in wetlands with still or slowly flowing fresh water and more rarely in coastal wetlands. It builds nests from sticks and reeds in dense vegetation, in trees, shrubs, willows but occasionally in reeds on small floating islets, either alone with Great Cormorants, Spoonbills and heron and egret species.
The Pygmy Cormorant feeds on small fish and rarely on small aquatic mammals and molluscs which are caught by diving. It often hunts in groups and perches in trees between fishing expeditions.
The Pygmy Cormorant is a species with habitats strongly affected by human actions. Threats include the drainage and serious degradation of wetlands and their associated woodland, water pollution, disturbance, poaching as well as drowning in fishing nets. Being a great fish consumer and destroyer of fishing nets, it is often persecuted by fishermen.
Date: 12th May 2015
Location: Lake Kerkini, Central Macedonia, Greece
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Also in: Central Macedonia
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