Red-legged Cormorant

About the Red-legged Cormorant

The red-legged cormorant (Poikilocarbo gaimardi), also known as the red-legged shag, red-footed cormorant, red-footed shag, Gaimard's cormorant and grey cormorant, is a species of cormorant resident to the coastline of South America. It is the only member of the genus Poikilocarbo. It is non-colonial unlike most seabirds. The red-legged cormorant has not been observed wing-spreading, which is unusual among cormorant species.

The red-legged cormorant was traditionally placed within the genus Phalacrocorax, but this assignment has been contested in recent years. Some phylogenetic studies have suggested that this species should be placed within Notocarbo, finding it to be most closely related to other southern-hemisphere shags, such as the spotted shag. A 2014 study found it to represent the second most basal genus of cormorant, with only Microcarbo being more basal, and thus reclassified into the genus Poikilocarbo. This classification was followed by the IOC in 2021. It has been suggested that the population of red-legged cormorants on the Atlantic coast are a separate subspecies. They are slightly smaller and have marginally paler plumage compared to the birds of the... Wikipedia →