Birds
Bounty Shag
Leucocarbo ranfurlyi · also called Bounty Island shag
Nesting directly on bare granite because there is no soil or vegetation to build with, a Bounty shag breeds on some of the smallest, most exposed islands any bird calls home, its entire world population confined to a scatter of rocks in the Southern Ocean.
Overview
The Bounty shag, Leucocarbo ranfurlyi, is a Vulnerable seabird native to ocean and coastal habitat found only around the Bounty Islands, a remote outpost of New Zealand in the Southern Ocean. Its extraordinarily narrow breeding range, bare-rock nesting habit, and striking blue eye-ring make it one of the most geographically confined blue-eyed shag species found anywhere in the world.
A species that fits on a handful of rocks
Few birds anywhere breed on a smaller total land area than the Bounty shag, whose entire global population depends on a scatter of bare, wind-battered granite outcrops too small and barren to support even basic plant life.
Status
Vulnerable, with populations remaining small and confined entirely to the Bounty Islands, though numbers are considered relatively stable despite the species’ extremely restricted breeding range.
Bounty Shag: common questions
Where does the Bounty shag breed?
This species breeds only on the Bounty Islands, a tiny cluster of bare granite rocks in the Southern Ocean with almost no vegetation, rather than a wider range.
Why does the Bounty shag nest on bare rock?
This species nests directly on bare rock ledges because its breeding islands lack the soil and vegetation that many other shag species use for nest material.
How restricted is the Bounty shag's range?
This species is among the most narrowly confined of all blue-eyed shag species, with its entire world population breeding on an extremely small total land area.
Why is the Bounty shag called a blue-eyed shag?
This species has a vivid ring of bare, blue-coloured skin around each eye, a feature shared with several closely related shag species collectively nicknamed blue-eyed shags.