European Shag

Endangered in Portugal

A coastal cormorant found only along the mainland's rocky western shore south of Cabo Carvoeiro, uncommon in Portugal, with most of the national population, about 100–150 pairs in 2002, concentrated in the Berlengas. The Berlenga colony has been monitored for over thirty years and stayed relatively stable (90 pairs in 1995, 79–105 in 2002, 82 in 2012) even as European populations decline. It nests February–July on cliffs and in crevices and caves, feeding on fish in shallow rocky water and never venturing into open sea, which makes it vulnerable to gillnets.