ID of Shags

[Michele Nel]

I need help with the ID of the following shags

Taken somewhere along the Otago Peninsula en route to the Northern Albatross Centre in July 2012.

Taken from the Observation Tower at the Northern Albatross Centre in July 2012.

Thank you
Michele

[Byrd]

the first one is a little pied shag Phalacrocorax melanoleucos (white-throated morph); the second photo is a colony of Stewart Island shags Phalacrocorax chalconotus (they have two colour morphs, pied and "bronze")

[Michele Nel]

Thank you Byrd..much appreciated.

[Michele Nel]

Just checking my birdbook..just a little one that I bought in NZ -Collins -Birds of New Zealand, Chloe Talbot Kelly and it seems that the scientific nakes are different. Stewart Island Shag is listed as Leucocarbo carunculatus chalconotus. Does anybody know why this is so ? Thanks again
Michele

[SomesBirder]

The classification has obviously been changed. It happens plenty of times; e.g. spotted shag was formerly in genus Strictocarbo and is now in Phalacrocorax, and the red-billed gull is regarded by some to be in the genus Chroicocephalus instead of Larus.

[Michele Nel]

Thank you SomesBirder..these name changes do confuse me. Many of our South African birds' names have changed as well.

[Byrd]

they are just taxonomic changes to reflect relationships between the birds, and in taxonomy there is often little agreement. At one point all cormorants/shags were in the genus Phalacrocorax but there are various subgroups within the group so taxonomists now generally split Phalacrocorax into various other genera as well. A well-established examples is Stictocarbo (meaning "spotted cormorant") for the spotted shag.

The little pied shag is sometimes placed in the genus Microcarbo (meaning "small cormorant"). The king shag of the Marlborough Sounds is Phalacrocorax carunculatus, and in the past the Stewart Island shag has been treated as a subspecies of this, hence Phalacrocorax carunculatus chalconotus, but I'm not aware anyone still does this.

[Michele Nel]

Thank you again Byrd for the extra info... I think for my purposes I will just stick to the common names.