Bounty shag
Leucocarbo ranfurlyi (Ogilvie-Grant, 1901)
The bounty shag (Leucocarbo ranfurlyi) is a species in the family Phalacrocoracidae, order Suliformes. Recorded adults weigh 2.35 kg to 2.5 kg. Source checklists list it for 1 country: Australia. Its IUCN Red List status is Vulnerable.
Quick facts about the bounty shag
- Weight
- 2.35 kg – 2.5 kgsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Diet
- Aquatic predatorsrc for Diet
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- marinesrc for Habitat
- Young per litter or clutch
- 2src for Young per litter or clutch
- Lifestyle
- Aquaticsrc for Lifestyle
- Migration
- Partialsrc for Migration
- Conservation status
- Vulnerable (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- 1 countrysrc for Countries on record
Where does the bounty shag live?
Countries where Catalogue of Life checklists list the species. Many checklists carry no country data, so the list is often incomplete. It is not a range map.
The bounty shag is listed for 1 country.
- Listed
- Not listed
The same countries as a list
Listed by: ITIS (scope: global), through the Catalogue of Life.
What is the bounty shag?
The Bounty shag (Leucocarbo ranfurlyi), also known as the Bounty Island shag, is a species of cormorant of the family Phalacrocoracidae. They are found only on the tiny and remote Subantarctic Bounty Islands, 670 km (420 mi) southeast of New Zealand. Its natural habitats are open seas and rocky shores. In 2022, a full unmanned aerial vehicle survey of the Bounty archipelago found a total of 573 breeding pairs and estimates the population to consist of approximately 1,733 birds. These recent estimates are consistent with the only other comparable study from 1978 and suggest that the species' population has remained stable over the past 45 years.
Some taxonomic authorities, including the International Ornithologists' Union, place this species in the genus Leucocarbo. Others place it in the genus Phalacrocorax.
They construct nests on cliff ledges using brown seaweed, and breed during October, with chicks hatching from late November to early December.
From the Wikipedia article “Bounty shag” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bounty_shag&oldid=1380575119), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the bounty shag endangered?
The bounty shag is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List: it faces a high risk of extinction in the wild.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Vulnerable species.
How is the bounty shag classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderSuliformes
- familyPhalacrocoracidae
- genusLeucocarbo
- SpeciesLeucocarbo ranfurlyi (Ogilvie-Grant, 1901)
Synonyms Eulococarbo ranfurlyi, Leucocarbo ranfurlyi ranfurlyi, Phalacrocorax campbelli ranfurlyi, Phalacrocorax carunculatus ranfurlyi, Phalacrocorax ranfurlyi
Other names and names in other languages (32)
- Bounty island shagEnglish
- Bounty Islands shagEnglish
- غاق باونتيArabic
- Corb marí de les BountyCatalan
- corb marí de les illes BountyCatalan
- kormorán bountskýCzech
- BountyskarvDanish
- BountyscharbeGerman
- buntia kormoranoEsperanto
- Buntia tufkormoranoEsperanto
- Cormorán de las BountySpanish
- Bounty pugalkormoranEstonian
- bounty pugalkormoran (bounty pugalkarbas)Estonian
- باکلان جزیره بانتیPersian
- bountynmerimetsoFinnish
- Cormoran de BountyFrench
- bauntski vranacCroatian
- bounty-szigeti kárókatonaHungarian
- Cormorano delle BountyItalian
- バウンティヒメウJapanese
- bauntinis kormoranasLithuanian
- Bounty-aalscholverDutch
- kormoran wyspowyPolish
- biguá-das-bountyPortuguese
- corvo-marinho-das-bountyPortuguese
- Баунтийский бакланRussian
- Баунтисский бакланRussian
- kormorán ostrovnýSlovak
- Bounty Adası KarabatağıTurkish
- баклан баунтійськийUkrainian
- 邦岛鸬鹚Chinese
- 班提島鸕鷀Chinese
Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List
Relatives of the bounty shag
Other species in the same genus Leucocarbo.
Imperial shag
Leucocarbo atriceps
Guanay cormorant
Leucocarbo bougainvilliorum
New Zealand king shag
Leucocarbo carunculatus
Rock shag
Leucocarbo magellanicus
Auckland shag
Leucocarbo colensoi
Stewart island shag
Leucocarbo chalconotus
CompareBounty shag vs Imperial shagBounty shag vs Guanay cormorantBounty shag vs New Zealand king shagBounty shag vs Rock shag
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the bounty shag?
An adult bounty shag weighs 2.35 kg – 2.5 kg, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
Where does the bounty shag live?
Catalogue of Life checklists list the bounty shag for 1 country: Australia. Checklist coverage is uneven, so the true range may be wider.
Is the bounty shag endangered?
The bounty shag is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, meaning it faces a high risk of extinction in the wild.
What kind of animal is the bounty shag?
The bounty shag (Leucocarbo ranfurlyi) belongs to the family Phalacrocoracidae in the order Suliformes.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Bounty shag (Leucocarbo ranfurlyi). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/bounty-shag
“Bounty shag (Leucocarbo ranfurlyi).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/bounty-shag.
@misc{bounty_shag_2026,
title = {Bounty shag (Leucocarbo ranfurlyi)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/bounty-shag},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}