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Pygmy Cormorants are small cormorants. Their plumage is almost all dark-grey to glossy black, with the typical scalloping visible on the back that can be found in all species of cormorants. In courtship the head is dark brownish-grey, with a small crest. In eclipse they have a grey throat patch and the rest of the plumage being dark-grey to glossy black. Pygmy Cormorants have a noticeably shorter light-grey bill than other species of cormorants, with a comparatively large head, giving them a "baby face" appearance. The legs and fully webbed feet are dark-grey. The irises are dark. Juvenile Pygmy Cormorants are paler and more greyish-brown than adults. Especially the face and the front, down to the chest, can be very light.

The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found, based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to ebird.org .

The global distribution of the Pygmy Cormorant is available HERE .

Pygmy Cormorants are a partly sedentary and partly migratory or dispersive species. The overall distribution of the Pygmy Cormorant ranges from south-eastern Europe via Asia Minor into south-western and central Asia. In the southern parts of their range (parts of western Asia Minor, Anatolia, near-coastal areas in Lebanon/Israel/Jordan, the Euphrates/Tigris river system and the southern coastline of the Caspian Sea and along the slopes of the Caucasus) they are sedentary or dispersive (during the winter months). Mostly in the nothern parts of their range (along the northern coastlines of the Black Sea, the Caspian Sea and in suitable locations in central Asia) they are summer breeding migrants. Sometimes vagrants also reach Cyprus.

In Europe, except for a few exceptions in eastern Italy and vagrants into central Europe, Pygmy Cormorants are found in south-eastern Europe (parts of the Balkans, parts of the Adriatic coastline and parts of northern Greece, as well as the lower Danube river valley, in particular the Danube Delta). In those regions they are sedentary or dispersive during the winter months. There are a few breeding sites further North where they are summer migrants, mostly along the northern coastline of the Black Sea.

During the breeding season Pygmy Cormorants have a strong preference for well vegetated fresh water habitats, around lakes and pools. During the winter months they can disperse into wetlands with more saline water, including estuaries, but mostly they will hunt in submerged grassland, pasture or fields with remnant (often dead) trees.

M. Eaton reports spotting a single Pygmy Cormorant at Krka Waterfalls, near Split, Croatia, in September 2019.

A. Sarok found Pygmy Cormorants in Vojvodina, Serbia, in the timeframe 2010-2024.