Phalacrocorax punctatus
Silhouette: L. Shyamal · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~40% in a week ~60%
The spotted shag or pārekareka (Phalacrocorax punctatus) is a species of cormorant endemic to New Zealand. Though originally classified as Phalacrocorax punctatus, it is sufficiently different in appearance from typical members of that genus that for a time it was placed in a separate genus, Stictocarbo, along with a similar species, the Pitt shag. Subsequent genetic studies show that the spotted shag's lineage is nested within the typical shags.
The spotted shag was initially called the 'crested shag' by Johann Forster. He shot the bird while hunting with the English Naval Explorer James Cook during the second voyage of James Cook. Swedish naturalist Anders Sparrman was Forster's assistant, he described the spotted shag in 1786 as Pelicanus punctatus.
French ornithologist Charles Lucien Bonaparte erected the separate genus Stictocarbo for it in 1855. It was later returned to its original genus. In 1930, the Stewart Island population was described as a separate species, the blue shag (Stictocarbo steadi), distinguished by its narrow rather than broad white stripe on its head and neck.
A 2014 molecular study by Kennedy and Spencer found that the spotted shag belongs to... Wikipedia →
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New Zealand · 2021
© David Boyle · XC664263 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rakiura National Park | 🇳🇿 New Zealand | |
| 2 | Abel Tasman National Park | 🇳🇿 New Zealand | |
| 3 | Fiordland National Park | 🇳🇿 New Zealand |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Auckland Zoo | 🇳🇿 New Zealand |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Spotted Shag sighting in Abel Tasman National Park on a given day, based on 156 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 35th most-seen of the 69 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 40%, and over a week to about 60%, if each day is a fresh chance.
March, July–August and October–December
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Spotted Shag in Abel Tasman National Park on a given day, against about 10% in January–February, April–June and September, the lowest months.
Between 11 am and 2 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Spotted Shag sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
2nd of 3
Of the 3 parks where we can rate Spotted Shag sightings, Abel Tasman National Park ranks 2nd at about 10%. The best odds are in Rakiura National Park (New Zealand, about 40%).
Same genus: Phalacrocorax
The closest relatives of the Spotted Shag that you can see in Abel Tasman National Park (genus Phalacrocorax, Typical Old World Cormorants) are Australian Pied Cormorant (about 30%) and Great Cormorant (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Spotted Shag is recorded against all the birds logged in Abel Tasman National Park (156 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
