I couldn't believe it when I spotted this large New Zealand Pied Shag just sitting nonchalantly on an old tree stump in the middle of a swamp next to a car park. B and I had just completed a lovely little bush walk near Punakaiki named the "Truman Track" and when we got back to our car, he/she was right there.
They are also called a pied cormorant, kawau, yellow faced cormorant and Karuhiruhi. They mainly inhabit coastal areas, harbours and estuaries. The adults have yellow around the eye so this one could be more of a teenager maybe.
Linking up with Tuesday Treasures, Happy Tuesdays and Wordless Wednesday.

13 comments:
A beautiful bird. Lovely to see it like that
Great job getting that photo. Ours are far too wary to get that close.
Gorgeous bird and fantastic snap!
What a beautiful bird! Coincidentally, a photo of one of his cousins is on my blog today.
It resembles our Great Blue Herons.
He seems to be very happy there sitting on the log in the shade. Enjoy your week, and thank you so much for visiting my blog this week.
He looks so smug! Lovely capture!
Seeing a New Zealand Pied Shag so calmly perched in an unexpected spot like that makes the bush walk even more memorable
...thanks, this is a new one for me.
That's a lovely cormorant sighting (and the bird kindly provided a pretty backdrop for your photo! Great shot!)
All the best from Austria, Traude
https://rostrose.blogspot.com/2026/02/reisebericht-2025-vancouver-teil-2.html
What a treat and what a beautiful bird. Wow. Great shot.
Thank you for joining the Happy Tuesday Blog Hop.
Have a fabulous Happy Tuesday. ♥
What a beauty.
I managed a number of photos of shags perched up trees which, given their size, always surprised me.
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