Leucocarbo atriceps
Silhouette: Edwin Price · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~90% in a week >90%
The imperial shag or imperial cormorant (Leucocarbo atriceps) is a black-and-white cormorant native to southern South America, islands of the Subantarctic, and the Antarctic Peninsula, primarily in rocky coastal regions, but locally also at large inland lakes. Some taxonomic authorities, including the International Ornithologists' Union, place it in the genus Leucocarbo, others in the genus Phalacrocorax. It is also known as the blue-eyed shag, blue-eyed cormorant and by many other names, and is one of a larger group of cormorants called blue-eyed shags. The taxonomy is complex, and several types are treated as either subspecies or separate species.
The imperial shag was formally described in 1828 by the Royal Navy officer Phillip Parker King based on a specimen that he had collected in the Strait of Magellan of southern Chile. He placed the species in the genus Phalacrocorax and coined the binomial name Phalacrocorax atriceps, where the specific epithet combines the Latin ater meaning "black" with -ceps meaning "-capped" or "-headed". The imperial shag was formerly usually retained in the genus Phalacrocorax, but has also sometimes been placed in its own genus Notocarbo... Wikipedia →
Call0:43
United Kingdom · 2013
© Michele Peron · XC187942 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Península Valdés | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 2 | Tierra del Fuego National Park | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 3 | Nahuel Huapi National Park | 🇦🇷 Argentina |
Likely
About 50% of wildlife watchers report an Imperial Shag sighting in Tierra del Fuego National Park on a given day, based on 620 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 15th most-seen of the 78 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 90%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February–March, July and October
In those months about 70% of wildlife watchers report an Imperial Shag in Tierra del Fuego National Park on a given day, against about 30% in May, the lowest month. June has too few records to rate.
Between 2 and 5 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Imperial Shag sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 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 Imperial Shag sightings, Tierra del Fuego National Park ranks 2nd at about 50%. The best odds are in Península Valdés (Argentina, about 70%).
Same family: Phalacrocoracidae
The closest relatives of the Imperial Shag that you can see in Tierra del Fuego National Park (family Phalacrocoracidae, Cormorants and Shags) are Magellanic Cormorant (about 40%) and Bigua cormorant (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Imperial Shag is recorded against all the birds logged in Tierra del Fuego National Park (620 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.
