CreatureData

Pitt shag

Phalacrocorax featherstoni Buller, 1873

ENEndangeredbirds

The pitt shag (Phalacrocorax featherstoni) is a species in the family Phalacrocoracidae, order Suliformes. Recorded adults weigh 1.04 kg to 1.21 kg. Source checklists list it for 1 country: Australia. Its IUCN Red List status is Endangered.

Pitt shag (Phalacrocorax featherstoni)
Photo: John Gerrard Keulemans · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the pitt shag

Weight
1.04 kg – 1.21 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
2.7 – 3src for Young per litter or clutch
Lifestyle
Aquaticsrc for Lifestyle
Migration
Partialsrc for Migration
Conservation status
Endangered (IUCN)src for Conservation status
Countries on record
1 countrysrc for Countries on record

Where does the pitt 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 pitt shag is listed for 1 country.

Australia
  • Listed
  • Not listed
small islands are not drawn at this scale

The same countries as a list

  1. Australia

Listed by: ITIS (scope: global), through the Catalogue of Life.

What is the pitt shag?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

The Pitt shag (Phalacrocorax featherstoni), also known as the Pitt Island shag or Featherstone's shag, is a species of bird in the family Phalacrocoracidae. It is endemic to Pitt Island where its natural habitats are open seas and rocky shores. The bird with the color of a dark body, gray chest, yellow eyes and feet can be found in small groups in their breeding habitat or alone within 18 km from their territory searching for food. The species was close to extinction in 1905 but actions of conservation have been done ever since. The Pitt shag is threatened by habitat loss due to predation and climate change causing a decline from 1997 to 2012, but there is a recovery plan by the Department of Conservation.

From the Wikipedia article “Pitt shag” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pitt_shag&oldid=1383374777), 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 pitt shag endangered?

The pitt shag is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List: it faces a very high risk of extinction in the wild.

  1. LCLeast Concern
  2. NTNear Threatened
  3. VUVulnerable
  4. ENEndangered
  5. CRCritically Endangered
  6. EWExtinct in the Wild
  7. EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Endangered species.

How is the pitt shag classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classAves
  4. orderSuliformes
  5. familyPhalacrocoracidae
  6. genusPhalacrocorax
  7. SpeciesPhalacrocorax featherstoni Buller, 1873

Synonyms Leucocarbo featherstoni, Phalacrocorax punctatus featherstoni, Stictocarbo featherstoni, Stictocarbo featherstoni featherstoni

Other names and names in other languages (39)
  • Pitt island shagEnglish
  • غاق بيتArabic
  • corb marí de FeatherstonCatalan
  • kormorán žlutonohýCzech
  • mulfran Ynys ChathamWelsh
  • PittskarvDanish
  • PittscharbeGerman
  • ChathamkormoranGerman
  • Pitt-ScharbeGerman
  • pita kormoranoEsperanto
  • Cormorán de la PittSpanish
  • Cormorán de isla PittSpanish
  • chathami täpikkormoran (chathami täpikkarbas)Estonian
  • Chathami täpikkormoranEstonian
  • باکلان جزیره پیتPersian
  • huppumerimetsoFinnish
  • Cormoran de FeatherstonFrench
  • sivoprsi vranacCroatian
  • pitt-szigeti kárókatonaHungarian
  • Cormorano di PittItalian
  • ピットウJapanese
  • Fiterstono kormoranasLithuanian
  • ChathamaalscholverDutch
  • Chatham-aalscholverDutch
  • svarthalsflekkskarvNorwegian
  • kormoran zielonolicyPolish
  • biguá-de-cara-verdePortuguese
  • corvo-marinho-da-pittPortuguese
  • corvo-marinho-de-pittPortuguese
  • Питтский бакланRussian
  • Зеленолицый бакланRussian
  • kormorán zelenolíciSlovak
  • Vranac sa ostrva PitSerbian
  • grönmaskad skarvSwedish
  • Pitt Adası KarabatakçığıTurkish
  • Küçük Parekareka KarabatağıTurkish
  • баклан чатамськийUkrainian
  • 皮岛鸬鹚Chinese
  • 皮特島鸕鷀Chinese

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List

Relatives of the pitt shag

Other species in the same genus Phalacrocorax.

ComparePitt shag vs Great cormorantPitt shag vs Indian cormorantPitt shag vs Japanese cormorantPitt shag vs Little black cormorant

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the pitt shag?

An adult pitt shag weighs 1.04 kg – 1.21 kg, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

Where does the pitt shag live?

Catalogue of Life checklists list the pitt shag for 1 country: Australia. Checklist coverage is uneven, so the true range may be wider.

Is the pitt shag endangered?

The pitt shag is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List, meaning it faces a very high risk of extinction in the wild.

What kind of animal is the pitt shag?

The pitt shag (Phalacrocorax featherstoni) 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.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Pitt shag (Phalacrocorax featherstoni). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/pitt-shag

MLA

“Pitt shag (Phalacrocorax featherstoni).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/pitt-shag.

BibTeX
@misc{pitt_shag_2026,
  title = {Pitt shag (Phalacrocorax featherstoni)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/pitt-shag},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}