Description Microcarbo melanoleucos
English: Little Pied Cormorant, Gould's Lagoon, Austins Ferry, Tasmania, Australia
Date 3 September 2008
Author JJ Harrison (jjharrison89@facebook.com) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:JJ_Harrison
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Microcarbo_melanoleucos_Austins_Ferry.jpg

The little pied cormorant, little shag or kawaupaka (Microcarbo melanoleucos) is a common Australasian waterbird, found around the coasts, islands, estuaries, and inland waters of Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand, Malaysia, and Indonesia, and around the islands of the south-western Pacific and the subantarctic. It is a small short-billed cormorant usually black above and white below with a yellow bill and small crest, although a mostly black white-throated form predominates in New Zealand. Three subspecies are recognised. Until recently most authorities referred to this species as Phalacrocorax melanoleucus. Order: Suliformes, Family: Phalacrocoracidae, Species: Microcarbo melanoleucos (Vieillot, 1817), Synonyms: Phalacrocorax melanoleucos, Anhinga parva.