---
title: "Little Pied Cormorant"
description: "Microcarbo melanoleucos — Uccelli. The little pied cormorant, little shag or little pied shag (Microcarbo melanoleucos) (Māori: kawaupaka) is a common species of Australasian waterbird, found around the coasts, islands, estuaries, and inland waters of Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand, Timor-Leste and Indonesia, and around the islands of the south-western Pacific and the subantarctic."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/it/animal/little-pied-cormorant
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Little Pied Cormorant

> Microcarbo melanoleucos — Uccelli. The little pied cormorant, little shag or little pied shag (Microcarbo melanoleucos) (Māori: kawaupaka) is a common species of Australasian waterbird, found around the coasts, islands, estuaries, and inland waters of Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand, Timor-Leste and Indonesia, and around the islands of the south-western Pacific and the subantarctic.

- Scientific name: *Microcarbo melanoleucos*
- Category: `birds` (Uccelli)
- Habitats: `freshwater` (Laghi e fiumi), `sea` (Mare e costa)
- iNaturalist observations: 35547
- Wikidata: [Q783177](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q783177)
- iNaturalist taxon: [370351](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/370351)

## Names

- en: Little Pied Cormorant
- de: Australische Zwergscharbe
- es: Cormorán piquicorto
- fr: Cormoran pie
- nl: Kleine bonte aalscholver
- pt: Biguá-alvinegro-pequeno
- pl: Kormoran białolicy

## Countries with the most observations

AU (27731), NZ (6838), ID (215), TL (64), NC (43), PW (22), PG (14)

## Summary

The little pied cormorant, little shag or little pied shag (Microcarbo melanoleucos) (Māori: kawaupaka) is a common species of Australasian waterbird, found around the coasts, islands, estuaries, and inland waters of Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand, Timor-Leste 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…

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_pied_cormorant

## Photo

![Little Pied Cormorant](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/little-pied-cormorant/medium.jpg)

Photo: John Cull · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/169912834

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/little-pied-cormorant?lang=it` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).