Blue (Spotted) Shag

Phalacrocorax punctatus oliveri

Description 2

Adult: Blue-grey wings and green-blue lower back and sides, light blue chest and belly often appearing white. Pale yellow facial skin and long thin browny-orange beak with pink-orange to yellow legs and feet. In breeding condition they have black spots on the end of the wing and back feathers, a crest on the front and back of the head. White feathers also sprout from the back of the neck and the facial skin turns blue-green, and they have brown eyes with a blue eye ring. A distinctive feature is the white stripe from the eye down the side of the neck down to the shoulder, lying between the black throat and dark back of the neck.
Juveniles: Colours are duller with none of the distinctive plumage.

Sources and Credits

  1. (c) Tony Wills, all rights reserved, uploaded by Tony Wills
  2. (c) Tony Wills, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)

More Info

iNaturalist NZ Map

Feet pink-orange, yellow