He has bitten off more than he can chew...

I found this little shag busily fishing near the marina. As I watched, he came up with this fish which was a little big for him to deal with. The fish did not intend to give up without a fight and flapped and twisted while the shag hung on desperately. I really expected to see the fish get away, but the shag managed to work it into a position where it could be swallowed. It took a long time to go down.

This is the smallest shag in New Zealand and is unimaginatively called "Little Shag". Of the 30-40 shag or cormorant species world wide, New Zealand has about a third of them or 12 and eight of them are endemic . The little shags are common and found in the coastal waterways across the country.

This pic is cropped heavily but the bird still wasn't close enough. It was losing sharpness so I stopped there.