Adults: General body plumage white with buff head and black primaries, secondaries and inner tail feathers. Prominant slate-grey stripe down the center of the throat and foreneck. Eye, light grey. Bill, blue-grey. Tail, black. Feet, black with yellow-green stripes on toes. Webs, brown.
Immatures: General body plumage irregular mixture of white and grey-brown with dark tail. Above, dusky, mottled white. Below, mainly white, greyish on neck.
Downy Young: Naked, then white-downed.
Other Scientific Names
Sula capensis [Dowsett and Forbes-Watson (1993)]
Other Names (World)
Cape Gannet, African Gannet, South African Gannet, Malagas, Malagash
Population
Estimated population is 300,000 (2010) and decreasing.
Status EN
Predation by fur seals, and Great White Pelican (Pelecanus onocrotalus), longline fishing, nesting site degradation and nest flooding during storms are the main threats.
For more information see BirdLife International Species Factsheet.
Food
Fish.
Voice
A rasping 'arrah arrah' is the most common call at colonies. Usually silent at sea.
Cape Gannet (Morus capensis) [XC269559]
by Peter Boesman from Bird Island, South Africa (call, flight call)
Cape Gannet (Morus capensis) [XC392575]
by Frank Lambert from Lambert's Bay, Western Cape, South Africa (call)
Breeding Season (Guide)
Does not breed in Australia. Breeds on islands off South Africa. May interbreed with Australasian Gannet.
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Nest
A mound with a cup-shaped depression at the centre, composed of guano, vegetation and other matter that can be scraped together. Where no such material is available, eggs are laid on bare ground.
Eggs (Guide)
1; initially bluish-white later becoming trodden and guano covered; 73 - 84 x 45 - 49 mm. Incubation: 40 - 43 days.
Subspecies
Sometimes considered subspecies of Northern Gannet (Morus bassanus). Also sometimes considered to form superspecies with Northern Gannet (Morus bassanus) and Australasian Gannet (Morus serrator).
Similar Species
Australasian Gannet (Morus serrator) which has a very short fine black streak down the center of the throat (but not neck) and has a white tail with only the central tail feathers being black, white morph of Red-footed Booby (Sula sula) which has red legs, a paler bill, a pure white head and neck and a distinct black patch on the underwing, and Masked Booby (Sula dactylatra) which has a pure white head and neck.
Compare Images
The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Pizzey, G., and Knight, E., 1997, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 19691 5
Field Guide to Australian Birds Morecombe, M., 2000, Steve Parish Publishing Pty Ltd. ISBN 1 876282 10 X
Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Simpson, K., and Day, N., 1999, 6th Edition, Viking ISBN 0 670 87918 5
Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds 1988, 2nd Edition, Reader's Digest ISBN 0 949819 99 9
What Bird is That? 1984, Revised Edition, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 14846 5
Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds 1990 - , Oxford University Press, Melbourne ISBN 0 19 553244 9
BirdLife International Species Factsheet