Editing Cormorant (section)

{{Short description|Family of aquatic birds}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2024}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| name = Cormorants and shags
| fossil_range = {{fossil range|24|0}} [[Late Oligocene]] – present
| image = Microcarbo melanoleucos Austins Ferry 3.jpg
| image_upright = 1.1
| image_caption = [[Little pied cormorant]]<br />''Microcarbo melanoleucos''
| taxon = Phalacrocoracidae
| authority = [[Ludwig Reichenbach|Reichenbach]], 1850
| type_genus = ''[[Phalacrocorax]]''
| subdivision_ranks = Genera
| subdivision = ''[[Microcarbo]]''<br />
''[[Poikilocarbo]]''<br />
''[[Urile]]''<br />
''[[Phalacrocorax]]''<br />
''[[Gulosus]]''<br />
''[[Nannopterum]]''<br />
''[[Leucocarbo]]''
| synonyms = {{collapsible list|bullets = true
|''Australocorax'' <small>[[Kálmán Lambrecht|Lambrecht]], 1931</small>
|''Compsohalieus'' <small>B. Brewer & [[Robert Ridgway|Ridgway]], 1884</small>
|''Cormoranus'' <small>[[Louis Antoine Francois Baillon|Baillon]], 1834</small>
|''Dilophalieus'' <small>[[Elliott Coues|Coues]], 1903</small>
|''Ecmeles'' <small>Gistel, 1848</small>
|''Euleucocarbo'' <small>Voisin, 1973</small>
|''Halietor'' <small>Heine, 1860</small>
|''Hydrocorax'' <small>[[Louis Pierre Vieillot|Vieillot]], 1819 (''non'' Brisson, 1760: [[Buceros|preoccupied]])</small>
|''Hypoleucus'' <small>[[Ludwig Reichenbach|Reichenbach]], 1852</small>
|''Miocorax'' <small>Lambrecht, 1933</small>
|''Nesocarbo'' <small>Voisin, 1973</small>
|''Notocarbo'' <small>Siegel-Causey, 1988</small>
|''Pallasicarbo'' <small>Coues, 1903</small>
|''Paracorax'' <small>Lambrecht, 1933</small>
|''Pliocarbo'' <small>[[Arkady Tugarinov|Tugarinov]], 1940</small>
|''Stictocarbo'' <small>Bonaparte, 1855</small>
|''Viguacarbo'' <small>Coues, 1903</small> 
|''Anatocarbo'' 
|''Nanocorax'' <br />(see text)
}} }}

'''Phalacrocoracidae''' is a [[family (biology)|family]] of approximately 40 [[species]] of [[aquatic bird]]s commonly known as '''cormorants''' and '''shags'''. Several different classifications of the family have been proposed, but in 2021 the [[International Ornithologists' Union]] (IOU) adopted a consensus taxonomy of seven [[genus|genera]].<ref name="IOU"/> The [[great cormorant]] (''Phalacrocorax carbo'') and the [[European shag|common shag]] (''Gulosus aristotelis'') are the only two species of the family commonly encountered in Britain and Ireland,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/cormorants-and-shags/ |title=Cormorants and shags |publisher=[[RSPB]] |access-date=27 July 2018}}</ref> and the names "cormorant" and "shag" have been later assigned to different species in the family somewhat haphazardly.

Cormorants and shags are medium-to-large birds, with body weight in the range of {{convert|0.35|-|5|kg}} and wing span of {{convert|60|-|100|cm}}. The majority of species have dark feathers. The bill is long, thin and hooked. Their feet have webbing between all four toes. All species are fish-eaters, catching the prey by diving from the surface. They are excellent divers, and under water they propel themselves with their feet with help from their wings; some cormorant species have been found to dive as deep as {{convert|45|m|-1||}}. Cormorants and shags have relatively short wings due to their need for economical movement underwater, and consequently have among the highest flight costs of any flying bird.<ref name="Elliott et al. 2013">{{cite journal|last1=Elliott|first1=KH|last2=Ricklefs|first2=RE|last3=Gaston|first3=AJ|last4=Hatch|first4=SA|last5=Speakman|first5=JR|last6=Davoren|first6=GK|date=2013|title=High flight costs and low dive costs in auks support the biomechanical hypothesis for flightlessness in penguins|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences|volume=110|issue=23|pages=9380–9384|doi=10.1073/pnas.1304838110|pmid=23690614|pmc=3677478|bibcode=2013PNAS..110.9380E |doi-access=free}}</ref>

Cormorants nest in colonies around the shore, on trees, islets or cliffs. They are coastal rather than oceanic birds, and some have colonised inland waters. The original ancestor of cormorants seems to have been a freshwater bird.{{Citation needed|reason=Weasel Words, Broad Conjecture|date=July 2018}} They range around the world, except for the central Pacific islands.