Save The Pygmy Cormorant

A pygmy cormorant is a bird found mainly in forests and wetlands of southeastern Europe and southwestern Asia. Their diet consist of eating fish up to 15 cm long and small amphibians, such as frogs. Its nest is usually found near the water in trees, bushes, or reedbeds, or on floating islets in vegetation and its preferred trees are willow salix trees. The pygmy cormorant is a least concern animal according to the ICUN Red List. The pygmy cormorant has many threats such as pollution from agriculture and forestry waste, biological resource use from hunting and trapping of pygmy cormorant, the modifications to natural systems of dams, water management, and aquaculture endangers this species. Its population is increasing, and its generation length estimate is 8.1 years.

The species is used and sold at food markets in Iran for recreational and commercial use. We can protect the pygmy cormorant by stopping the hunting and killing of them. The are being hunted down for their feathers and skin. Surprisingly the pygmy cormorant population is increasing and not decreasing. These birds breed around April and July in large mixed species colonies and their preferred breeding tree is found in Azerbaijan called Tamarix. Pygmy cormorant leaves the breeding grounds around August and return between March and April. During breeding season, you can find the pygmy cormorant in the areas of Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. Not all pygmy cormorants breed, the winter adults and juveniles with their neck white do not. The most recent data according to ICUN Red List, the bird is possibly becoming extinct in Jordan and Algeria. From 2005 to 2012, the assessments have shown that the pygmy cormorants were a least threat to extinction. However, in 1988 and 2005, the threat to their extinction was a high threat.

References

https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/22696734/86521703