About Leucocarbo atriceps georgianus (Lonnberg, 1906)
This subspecies of imperial shag, Leucocarbo atriceps georgianus, has a total length of 70–79 cm (28–31 in) and weighs 1.8–3.5 kg (4.0–7.7 lb); males are typically larger than females. Most of its body is covered in glossy black feathers, while its belly and neck are white. It has a distinctive ring of blue skin around its eyes, an orange-yellow nasal knob, pinkish legs and feet, and an erectile black crest. In the non-breeding season, adult birds lose their crest, have duller facial coloring, and have less or no white coloring on the back and wings. Its bill is serrated, an adaptation for catching fish. Different related taxa of this group primarily vary in the amount of white coloring on the cheeks, ear-coverts, wing-coverts, and back. Most taxa have white cheeks and ear-coverts, but these areas are black in albiventer, purpurascens, and melanogenis. Chicks are uniformly brownish. Immature birds have brown and white plumage instead of the adult's black and white, have dull facial skin, and lack the orange-yellow nasal knob and blue eye-ring.
