Otago Shag Sumpter Wharf Ōamaru Live Cam

Otago shags crowd the beams of Sumpter Wharf, a derelict pier in the harbour at Ōamaru on the east coast of the South Island. The camera looks along the timbers at the nesting colony.

The birds were only separated as a species in 2016, having been counted until then with the Stewart Island shag. They breed along a short stretch of the Otago coast and nowhere else, and come in two colour forms, one pied and one dark bronze.

The wharf was built in the 1880s for grain and frozen meat and has been left to the colony since the port trade moved on. Ōamaru itself is built of local limestone, soft enough to carve, which is why its Victorian quarter survives in one piece.