Heard Island shag

Species of bird

Heard Island shag

Scientific classification
Domain:  | Eukaryota
Kingdom:  | Animalia
Phylum:  | Chordata
Class:  | Aves
Order:  | Suliformes
Family:  | Phalacrocoracidae
Genus:  | Leucocarbo
Species:  |

L. nivalis

Binomial name
Leucocarbo nivalis

(Falla, 1937)[1]

Synonyms

* Phalacrocorax atriceps nivalis
* Phalacrocorax nivalis
* Leucocarbo atriceps nivalis

The Heard Island shag (Leucocarbo nivalis), or Heard Island cormorant, is a marine cormorant native to the Australian territory comprising the Heard and McDonald Islands in the Southern Ocean, which is about 4,100 km south-west of Perth, Western Australia.

## Taxonomy

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The Heard Island shag is one of the blue-eyed shags, sometimes placed in the genus Leucocarbo, and a subspecies of the imperial shag. Others place it in the genus Phalacrocorax. It is now usually considered to be a full species.

## Distribution and habitat

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The Heard Island shag is restricted to the subantarctic Heard and McDonald Islands, and is only known to breed on Heard Island. Apart from breeding and roosting, its habitat is marine.

## Description

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The Heard Island shag has largely black upperparts and white underparts. The cheeks and ear-coverts are white; there are white bars on the wings, a black, recurved crest over the forehead, and pink feet.[2] A breeding adult has a pair of orange caruncles above the base of the bill in front of the eyes as well as blue eye-rings.[2] It is about 77 cm in length, with a wingspan of 120 cm and a weight of 3 kg.[2]

## Behaviour

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Heard Island shags are gregarious, roosting in groups of from 10-20 birds up to several hundred.[3]

### Breeding

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The birds are present year round at Heard Island, where they breed annually in colonies. Courtship takes place from late August to early October. Nests are mounds built largely of the stipes, roots and adhering soil of the tussock grass Poa cookii and average about 22 cm high, with a minimum distance between nests of 50 cm.[4][5] The clutch of two or three eggs is laid mainly between mid-September and November, hatching from November to February. The chicks fledge from January to March.[6]

### Feeding

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The birds forage locally in shallow coastal waters,[6] with the diet consisting primarily of polychaetes and fish.[7] The proportion of fish in the diet is higher when the birds are feeding chicks.[8][9]

## Status and conservation

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The Heard Island shag population is estimated to comprise about 1000 breeding pairs. It is listed as Vulnerable under Australia's Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999,[6] because the population is small, localised and subject to fluctuations in breeding success due to weather conditions and food availability. A potential threat is climate change affecting sea temperatures and thus food supply.[10]

## Notes

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1. ^ Falla (1937), p.226.
2. ^ a b c Marchant & Higgins (1991), p.854.
3. ^ Marchant & Higgins (1991), p.856.
4. ^ Green (1997a), pp.61-62.
5. ^ Green (1997b), p.68.
6. ^ a b c DEWHA website
7. ^ Green, K., and Williams, R. (1997). Biology of the Heard Island Shag Phalacrocorax nivalis. 3. Foraging, Diet and Diving Behaviour. Emu 97: 76-83 doi:10.1071/MU97008
8. ^ Green et al. (1990), pp.139-141.
9. ^ Green (1997c), p.76.
10. ^ Garnett & Crowley (2000).

## References

[edit]

* "Heard Island Cormorant - Fact File". DEWHA. Archived from the original on 12 September 2009. Retrieved 15 February 2009.
* Falla, R. A. (20 August 1937). Johnston, T. Harvey (ed.). Birds. B.A.N.Z. Antarctic Research Expedition 1929–1931, Reports—Series B. Vol. II. The B.A.N.Z.A.R Expedition Committee. p. 226.
* Garnett, Stephen T.; Crowley, Gabriel M. (2000). The Action Plan for Australian Birds 2000. Canberra: Environment Australia. ISBN 0-642-54683-5.
* Green, K. (1997). "Biology of the Heard Island Shag Phalacrocorax nivalis. 1. Breeding Behaviour". Emu. 97 (1): 60–66. doi:10.1071/MU97006.
* Green, K. (1997). "Biology of the Heard Island Shag Phalacrocorax nivalis. 2. Breeding". Emu. 97 (1): 67–75. doi:10.1071/MU97007.
* Green, K.; Williams, R. (1997). "Biology of the Heard Island Shag Phalacrocorax nivalis. 3. Foraging, Diet and Diving Behaviour". Emu. 97 (1): 76–83. doi:10.1071/MU97008.
* Green, K.; Williams, R.; Woehler, E.J.; Burton, H.R.; Gales, N.J.; Jones, R.T. (June 1990). "Diet of the Heard Island cormorant Phalacrocorax atriceps nivalis". Antarctic Science. 2 (2): 139–141. Bibcode:1990AntSc...2..139G. doi:10.1017/S0954102090000177. S2CID 84260970.
* Marchant, S.; Higgins, P.J., eds. (1990). Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds Volume 1: Ratites to Ducks. Melbourne: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-553244-9.

* v
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Order: Suliformes (Phalacrocoraciformes)

Frigatebirds (family: Fregatidae * genus: Fregata)

| Genus|

Species

Fregata|

* Magnificent frigatebird
* Ascension frigatebird
* Christmas Island frigatebird
* Great frigatebird
* Lesser frigatebird

Gannets and boobies (family: Sulidae)

| Genus|

Species

Sula|

* Blue-footed booby
* Peruvian booby
* Masked booby
* Nazca booby
* Red-footed booby
* Brown booby

Papasula|

* Abbott's booby

Morus|

* Northern gannet
* Cape gannet
* Australasian gannet

Darters (family: Anhingidae * genus Anhinga)

| Genus|

Species

Anhinga|

* Anhinga
* Oriental darter
* African darter
* Australasian darter

Cormorants (family: Phalacrocoracidae)

| Genus|

Species

Phalacrocorax|

* Socotra cormorant
* Bank cormorant
* Pitt shag
* Spotted shag
* Pied cormorant
* Black-faced cormorant
* Little black cormorant
* Indian cormorant
* Cape cormorant
* Great cormorant
* White-breasted cormorant
* Japanese cormorant (Temminck's cormorant)

Microcarbo|

* Crowned cormorant
* Little cormorant
* Pygmy cormorant
* Little pied cormorant
* Reed cormorant (long-tailed cormorant)

Urile|

* Brandt's cormorant
* Pelagic cormorant
* Red-faced cormorant
* †Spectacled cormorant

Nannopterum|

* Double-crested cormorant
* Neotropic cormorant
* Flightless cormorant

Gulosus|

* European shag

Poikilocarbo|

* Red-legged cormorant

Leucocarbo|

* Rock shag (Magellanic cormorant)
* Guanay cormorant
* New Zealand king shag (rough-faced shag)
* Foveaux shag
* Otago shag
* Chatham shag
* Auckland shag
* Campbell shag
* Bounty shag
* Imperial shag (imperial cormorant, blue-eyed shag)
* Heard Island shag
* Crozet shag
* Antarctic shag
* Kerguelen shag
* Macquarie shag
* South Georgia shag

Taxon identifiers

Leucocarbo nivalis|

* Wikidata: Q1261443
* Wikispecies: Leucocarbo nivalis
* CoL: 725KF
* EoL: 44485100
* GBIF: 6066506
* iNaturalist: 1289587
* ITIS: 824176
* NCBI: 1522881
* Observation.org: 244208
* Xeno-canto: Leucocarbo-nivalis

Phalacrocorax atriceps nivalis|

* Wikidata: Q57577191
* GBIF: 4352325
* OBIS: 226011
* WoRMS: 226011

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*[†]: Extinct