In size between a Eurasian Coot (Fulica atra) and a Great Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) and black as well. Pygmy Cormorants are increasingly a sighting in Germany. Right now, a Pygmy Cormorant has been reported from Stotternheimer See near Erfurt. Several images show, as the Pygmy Cormorant swims, rest and starts from the water in front of reeds on this lake in Thuringia. Before, this species – maybe the same bird – was reported from the southern bay of Sulzer Lake which is also close to Erfurt. The bird was always good to see from the 3rd to the 11th of December 2018. Pygmy Cormorants found in Thuringia fit very well into the picture of a more frequent occurrence of the bird species in Central Europe starting from the years 2000, as reports from the Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland, from the Bodensee and from Germany. Scientists suspect that this phenomenon can be explained by the large increase in the breeding population in the Hortobágy in Hungary. The species seems to occur increasingly in Germany in the second half of the year – especially in late autumn and winter.
Pygmy Cormorants are in fact small relatives of the European Continue reading Pygmy Cormorant (Phalacrocorax pygmaeus) in Germany