The Australian pied cormorant was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae.

[2] Gmelin based his description on the "pied shag" from Queen Charlotte Sound, New Zealand, that had been described in 1785 by English ornithologist John Latham in his book A General Synopsis of Birds.

Latham had based his own description on a specimen in the Leverian Museum and on a watercolour by Georg Forster that belonged to Joseph Banks.

[3][4][5] The Australian pied cormorant is now one of 12 species placed in the genus Phalacrocorax that was introduced in 1760 by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson.

It has large webbed feet which it utilises to pursue fish underwater, steering with half opened wings.

This lack of feather waterproofing may help the cormorant spend longer underwater due to decreased buoyancy effects.

[17] Although typically found in marine habitat—sometimes solitary, sometimes in pairs, sometimes in vast flocks of hundreds or thousands—it is also attracted to inland waters, including lakes, deep and open wetlands, and rivers.

[17] In Australia, the birds can often be found at inland waterways while in New Zealand it prefers coastal areas close to its prey.

The pied cormorant appears to feed largely (90%) on benthic fish 6–15 cm in length from waters less than 10m deep.

Hunting is typically performed as individuals (potentially to avoid kleptoparasitism), although larger groups can be observed when schools of small fish are close to the surface.

[22] The pied cormorant preferably breeds in small (<30 pairs) sheltered colonies (harbours, estuaries and lakes) with rarer occurrences on exposed coasts or islands,[21] no more than 400 metres from the sea (or food source).

Nests are typically large platforms formed of sticks and foliage cemented with droppings averaging 80 cm in diameter on the ground or in trees.