Pygmy cormorant

An aquatic predator and carnivore, it lives in wetland habitats, is partially migratory and has a geographic range of 617,500 km². It lays a clutch of 5 eggs once per year, with an incubation period of 28.5 days, and is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.

Weight

603 g – 751.5 gsrc for Weight

Length

Not recorded

Wingspan

80 cm – 90 cmsrc for Wingspan

Lifespan

Not recorded

Diet

Aquatic predatorsrc for Diet

Main food

Not recorded

Habitat

wetlandsrc for Habitat

Egg incubation

28.5 dayssrc for Egg incubation

Young per litter or clutch

5src for Young per litter or clutch

Litters or clutches a year

1src for Litters or clutches a year

Lifestyle

Aquaticsrc for Lifestyle

Migration

Partialsrc for Migration

Conservation status

Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status

Countries on record

Not recorded

Not recorded

The pygmy cormorant is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.

1. LCLeast Concern
2. NTNear Threatened
3. VUVulnerable
4. ENEndangered
5. CRCritically Endangered
6. EWExtinct in the Wild
7. EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species. What the categories mean.

1. kingdomAnimalia
2. phylumChordata
3. classAves
4. orderSuliformes
5. familyPhalacrocoracidae
6. genusMicrocarbo
7. SpeciesMicrocarbo pygmaeus (Pallas, 1773)

Synonyms Halietor pygmaeus, Halietor pygmeus, Halietor pygmeus, Microcarbo pygmeus, Pelecanus pygmaeus, Pelecanus pygmeus, Phalacrocorax pygmaeus, Phalacrocorax pygmeus

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List

LC, Least Concern

Little cormorant

Microcarbo niger

Phalacrocoracidae

LC, Least Concern

Reed cormorant

Microcarbo africanus

Phalacrocoracidae

LC, Least Concern

Little pied cormorant

Microcarbo melanoleucos

Phalacrocoracidae

LC, Least Concern

Crowned cormorant

Microcarbo coronatus

Phalacrocoracidae

ComparePygmy cormorant vs Little cormorantPygmy cormorant vs Reed cormorantPygmy cormorant vs Little pied cormorantPygmy cormorant vs Crowned cormorant

• An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
  Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1
• AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
  Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7
• Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
  Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf
• Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
  Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence).
• Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
  Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service).
• Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
  Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).

@misc{pygmy_cormorant_2026,
  title = {Pygmy cormorant (Microcarbo pygmaeus)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/pygmy-cormorant},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}