Cape Petrel

Daption capense - Damier du Cap

Systematics

Order
:
Procellariiformes
Family
:
Procellariidés
Genus
:
Daption
Species
:
capense

Descriptor

Linnaeus, 1758

Biometrics

Size
: 40 cm
Wingspan
: 81 à 91 cm.
Weight
: 440 à 480 g

Longevity

20 years

Geographic range

Distribution

Identification

This unmistakable species is often seen in large numbers around fishing boats. The top of the head is black, and its back displays a mixture of black and white spots (hence its French name, Cape Petrel). The wings are dark but marked with two distinct white patches. The tail ends with a large black bar. Birds of the northernmost subspecies (D. c. australe) are particularly dark, with less white in their plumage. The underside is white except for the black throat. The leading and trailing edges are also black, along with the tips of the rectrices.

Subspecific information 2 subspecies

Daption capense capense (subantarctic islands, Antarctic Pen.)
Daption capense australe (New Zealand's subantarctic islands)

Foreign names

Damier du Cap,
Petrel damero,
pintado,
Kapsturmvogel,
galambhojsza,
Kaapse Stormvogel,
Procellaria del Capo,
brokpetrell,
Flekkpetrell,
fulmarka tenkozobá,
buřňák černobílý,
Kap-petrel,
kapinmyrskyliitäjä,
Seeduifstormvoël,
petrell del Cap,
Mardúfa,
warcabnik,
Kāpzemes vētrasputns,
kapski viharnik,
Капский голубок,
Petrel tanjung,
マダラフルマカモメ,
花斑鹱,
南非鸌,

Voice song and cries

play
pause

Loud choruses heard on the fishing grounds.

Habitat

Especially observed in the open sea, but sometimes close to the coasts near breeding sites. It has a tendency to frequent cold waters but is rarely seen near the pack ice.

Behaviour character trait

Seldom dives. Gathers food from surface. Runs on water as a Cape Petrel. Very common near fishing boats.

Flight

Very skillful. Alternation of very fast wing beats and long glides.

Dietfeeding habits

Its main prey is krill, but the Cape Petrel also consumes fish and sometimes even carrion. It regularly follows in large numbers fishing boats from which it collects waste, but also cetaceans on their feeding sites. It feeds both day and night.

Reproduction nesting

It breeds on rocky islets or cliffs from November to April (Southern Hemisphere summer), sometimes in colonies of several thousand pairs, sometimes alone. It lays a single egg which is incubated for about one and a half months and the young take flight around two months after hatching.

Geographic range

The nominate subspecies breeds on different sub-Antarctic islands as well as on some cliffs of this continent. On the other hand, the subspecies D. c. australe (endemic to New Zealand) has a much more northern distribution, as it nests on the small archipelagos located south of New Zealand, as far north as Chatham Islands and The Snares. It can be seen on all seas south of the Tropic of Capricorn. It goes up along the western coasts of Africa and South America following the Benguela and Humboldt currents. Exceptionally, it can even reach Mexico, California and Reunion Island.

Threats - protection

IUCN conservation status

Extinct

Threatened

Least
concern

Extinc
in the Wild

Near
threatened

Not
evaluated

EX EW CR EN VU NT LC NE

The population reaches several millions of individuals and the species is not threatened. However, the northern subspecies (D. c. australe) only counts a few thousand pairs.