Pitt Island Shag

Spotted shag and Pitt Island Shag

Spotted Shag and Pitt Island Shag from Buller's, A History of the Birds of New Zealand, 1888.

Pitt Island Shag

Equally as beautiful as the spotted shag, this representative of the shags in the Chatham Group was discovered by H.H. Travers in 1871. Buller dedicated the species to Dr Featherston, Superintendent of the Province of Wellington at that time.

Apparently never a common species, it was reported as nearly extinct in 1905. The Department of Conservation does have a Recovery Plan for this bird.

Members of the shag family belong to three groups, based on the colour of their feet: black, yellow or pink. Outside New Zealand, the black-footed shags are better known as cormorants. The Pitt Island shag belongs to the yellow footed group.

Pitt Island Shag

Pitt Island Shag from Buller's, A History of the Birds of New Zealand, 1873.

Taxonomy  
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Pelecaniformes
Family: Phalacrocoracidae
Genera: Stictocarbo
Species: featherstoni
Sub Species:  
Other common names:  —

Pitt Island cormorant.

Description:  — 

Endemic bird

63 cm., 1200 g., like spotted shag but darker, no white neck stripe and facial skin apple green in breeding season.

Where to find:  — 

Chatham and Pitt Islands.

Illustration description: — 

Buller, Walter Lawry, A History of the Birds of New Zealand, 2nd ed. , 1888.

Buller, Walter Lawry, A History of the Birds of New Zealand, 1st ed. , 1873.

Reference(s): — 

Heather, B., & Robertson, H., Field Guide to the Birds of New Zealand, 2000.

Oliver, W.R.B., New Zealand Birds, 1955.

Page date & version: — 

Tuesday, 31 October, 2023; ver2023v1