Microcarbo is a genus of fish-eating birds, known as cormorants, of the family Phalacrocoracidae. The genus was formerly subsumed within Phalacrocorax.
Microcarbo
Image: Crowned Cormorant, Phalacrocorax coronatus
Image: Little cormorant (Microcarbo niger) 20070322
Image: Microcarbo melanoleucos Austins Ferry 3
Phalacrocoracidae is a family of approximately 40 species of aquatic birds 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 genera. The great cormorant and the common shag are the only two species of the family commonly encountered in Britain and Ireland and "cormorant" and "shag" appellations have been later assigned to different species in the family somewhat haphazardly.
Cormorant
Great cormorant with hooked bill
Little cormorant with wings spread
Imperial shags in Beagle Channel