Phalacrocorax magellanicus
Silhouette: Edwin Price · PhyloPic
In 3 days >90%
The rock shag (Leucocarbo magellanicus), also known as the Magellanic cormorant, is a marine cormorant found around the southernmost coasts of South America. Its breeding range is from around Valdivia, Chile, south to Cape Horn and Tierra del Fuego, and north to Punta Tombo in Argentina. In winter it is seen further north, with individuals reaching as far as Santiago, Chile on the west coast and Uruguay on the east. The birds also breed around the coasts of the Falkland Islands.
The rock shag was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it in the genus Pelecanus and coined the binomial name Pelecanus magellanicus. Gmelin based his description on the "Magellanic shag" that had been described in 1785 by the English ornithologist John Latham in his book A General Synopsis of Birds. Latham had in turn based his description on a specimen in the Leverian Museum and the account made by Georg Forster of his visit to Tierra del Fuego in December 1774 during James Cook's second voyage to the Pacific. The rock shag was formerly placed in the genus Phalacrocorax...
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Falkland Islands | 🇫🇰 Falkland Islands | |
| 2 | Península Valdés | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 3 | Tierra del Fuego National Park | 🇦🇷 Argentina |
Very likely
About 70% of wildlife watchers report a Magellanic Cormorant sighting in Falkland Islands on a given day, based on 1,405 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 8th most-seen of the 79 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
March–July and September
In those months about 80% of wildlife watchers report a Magellanic Cormorant in Falkland Islands on a given day, against about 60% in November and December, the lowest months.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Magellanic Cormorant sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Yes
Of the 3 parks where we can rate Magellanic Cormorant sightings, Falkland Islands has the highest daily chance: about 70%. Next come Península Valdés (Argentina, about 60%) and Tierra del Fuego National Park (Argentina, about 40%).
Same family: Phalacrocoracidae
The closest relatives of the Magellanic Cormorant that you can see in Falkland Islands (family Phalacrocoracidae, Cormorants and Shags) are Imperial Shag (about 70%) and Falkland Imperial Shag (about 50%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Magellanic Cormorant is recorded against all the birds logged in Falkland Islands (1,405 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.
