Cape Gannets along the Wild Coast

written by Alex Lamoreaux

In South Africa, the Eastern Cape Province's coastline is known as the 'Wild Coast' due to its habit of smashing ships against its rocky shoreline during the winter months, when storms toss and turn the ocean. This beautiful coastline, that I was able to call home for 10 weeks, is also a hotspot for seeing one of southern Africa's most beautiful seabirds, the Cape Gannet. This species is almost identical to our Northern Gannet except for all of its flight feathers are black (not just the primary feathers), and for the thin black stripe that runs far down the bird's throat. Cape Gannets are restricted to three breeding colonies off the coast of South Africa and three of the coast off Namibia. Everyday, these beautiful birds fly hundreds of kilometers from their breeding islands to find fish. Almost every morning I would see gannets flying in single-file lines north up the coast, and then back south in the evening. On special occasions, the gannets would feed close inshore and I was able to capture the photos below, showing different ages of this magnificent bird!

Cape Gannet - adult

Cape Gannet - juvenile

Cape Gannet - subadult

Cape Gannet - adult diving

Cape Gannet - adult diving

References:

BirdLife International (2004). Morus capensis. 2006. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. www.iucnredlist.org. Retrieved on 11 May 2006.