EUROPEAN SHAG (Gulosus aristotelis) Broadmeadow Estuary, Swords, Fingal, Co. Dublin, Ireland

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The European Shag (Gulosus aristotelis) is of the cormorant family Phalacrocoracidae which is in the genus Gulosus. It occurs in northern and western Europe, the Mediterranean Basin, parts of North Africa as well as parts of the Black Sea Coast. This species breeds in colonies on coastal rocky cliffs and on offshore islands. Can easily be confused with Greater Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) but unlike that species, it is very rarely found inland on lakes or rivers.

  

Three subspecies are generally recognised :

• G. a. aristotelis – occurs in northwestern European Atlantic Ocean coasts
• G. a. desmarestii – occurs in the Mediterranean Basin and Black Sea coasts
• G. a. riggenbachi – occurs in northwestern African coasts
  

 

Patrick J. O'Keeffe / Raw Birds

 

European Shag (Gulosus aristotelis) distribution map

 Breeding                  Non-breeding - winter 

 

SanoAK: Alexander Kürthy, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons