An example of this magnificent species was collected by Forster in Queen Charlotte Sound during Cook’s second voyage. Forster’s description of Pelecanus carunculatus was not published until 1844 but Latham described his “Carunculated shag” from Forster’s specimen and painting, and Gmelin in 1789 latinised Latham’s name.
The Russian explorer Bellinghausen visited Queen Charlotte Sound in 1820 and collected “cormorants with a bluish eye membrane”.
It was not until 1875 when H.H. Travers collected the species again in Queen Charlotte Sound that its proper status in the New Zealand avifauna was established.
This shag is a sedentary species, never going far from its breeding place. It has never been reported as common.
