Damian Wiehle
Ornis Polonica 2025, 66: 321-327
https://doi.org/10.12657/ornis.2025.4.4
Summary: The second brood of the Pygmy Cormorant Microcarbo pygmaeus in Poland took place in 2025 on an island in the Czupryński pond (50.015805, 19.487338) on the Spytkowice fish-ponds, located near Zator (Wadowice County). During visit on 15th May, ten nests were found, of which nine contained 4–6 eggs. One nest was empty without any eggs. The colony was monitored by installed camera traps. On 30th May, the first chicks were found in three nests, and on 9th June, nine nests already had a full set of chicks corresponding to the number of eggs laid. The nests were built in the crown of a box elder maple Acer negundo at a height of 3.80–4.60 m above the ground. They were circular, cup-shaped and opaque from below. Their construction was dominated by shoots with dried leaves broken off from the crown of a box elder maple and shoots of willows Salix sp. The inside of the nests was lined with young shoots and leaves of Acorus calamus and Phragmites australis. The eggs were oval-shaped, distinctly elongated with a blunt, narrower tip. They were alabaster-coloured with a delicate bluish-greenish tinge, without any shine, and covered with a thin chalky coating. The first brood of the Pygmy Cormorant was expected, especially in the vicinity of Zator, where from 7th August to 10th October 2024 51–110 individuals were regularly observed on Spytkowice fish-ponds. The nesting site, including the number of eggs in the colony, was consistent with the literature data, but size of broods exceeded those described in Lower Austria on Lake Neusiedl.
