Imperial Shag colony on Carcass Island in the Falklands
Image details
Contributor:
Philip Jones / Alamy Stock PhotoImage ID:
HFGKEKFile size:
48.6 MB (2.2 MB Compressed download)Releases:
Model - no | Property - noDo I need a release?Dimensions:
5047 x 3365 px | 42.7 x 28.5 cm | 16.8 x 11.2 inches | 300dpiDate taken:
November 2016Location:
Carcass Island FalklandsMore information:
Carcass lies north-west of West Falkland and south-east of the Jason Islands. It is 10 km (6.2 mi) in length, has a maximum width of 2.5 km (1.6 mi), and is 19 km2 (7.3 sq mi) in area.[1] The highest points of the island are Stanley Hill and Mount Byng at 220 m (720 ft). The north-eastern coast has cliffs and slopes while there are large sand bays and a tidal rocky point to the north-west. There are also stretches of duneland. Leopard Beach is often used as a landing point. The island's grim-sounding name comes from the ship HMS Carcass, which surveyed the island in 1766. Its accompanying vessel, HMS Jason, gave its name to the nearby Jason Islands, and its captain, John McBride, gave his name to MacBride Head. The imperial shag has a total length of 70–79 cm (28–31 in) and weighs 1.8–3.5 kg (4.0–7.7 lb), with males averaging larger than females. It is endowed with glossy black feathers covering most of its body, with a white belly and neck. It possesses a distinctive ring of blue skin around its eyes, an orange-yellow nasal knob, pinkish legs and feet, and an erectile black crest. During the non-breeding season, adults lack the crest, have a duller facial area, and less/no white to the back/wings. It has a serrated bill used for catching fish. The group varies primarily in the amount of white on the cheeks/ear-coverts, wing-coverts and back. Most taxa have white cheeks and ear-coverts, but these are black in albiventer, purpurascens and melanogenis. Chicks are uniform brownish, and immatures are brownish and white (instead of black and white), have dull facial skin, and lack the orange-yellow nasal knob and blue eye-ring.
