Little Pied Cormorant

Microcarbo melanoleucos (Vieillot, 1817)

Little Pied Cormorant, Microcarbo melanoleucos, breeds across Australasia from the Lesser Sundas to the Solomon Islands, New Caledonia and New Zealand. It is a cormorant in the Phalacrocoracidae family and was described by Vieillot in 1817. The bird is also known as a little shag or little pied shag. It occurs around coasts, islands, estuaries and inland waters in Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand, Timor-Leste and Indonesia, as well as on islands in the south-western Pacific and the subantarctic. Three subspecies are recognised, and the species was formerly placed in Phalacrocorax.

Order

Suliformes

Family

Phalacrocoracidae — Cormorants, Shags

Breeding range

Australasia: Lesser Sundas and Australasia to Solomon Is., New Caledonia and New Zealand