Little Pied Cormorant
Microcarbo melanoleucos
- Class
- Bird
- Rarity
- Common
- Observations
- 26,635
- Most observed in
- 🇦🇺 Australia
- Conservation
- Least Concern
Description
The little pied cormorant, little shag or little pied shag is a common species of Australasian waterbird, found around the coasts, islands, estuaries, and inland waters of Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand, Timor-Leste and Indonesia, and around the islands of the south-western Pacific and the subantarctic. It is a small short-billed cormorant usually black above and white below with a yellow bill and small crest, although a mostly black white-throated form predominates in New Zealand. Three subspecies are recognised. Until recently, most authorities referred to this species as Phalacrocorax melanoleucos.
Summary adapted from the Wikipedia article “Little pied cormorant”.