Cape Gannet (Morus capensis)
About the Cape Gannet
The Cape gannet (Morus capensis) is a large seabird of the gannet family, Sulidae. They are easily identified by their large size, black and white plumage and distinctive yellow crown and hindneck. The pale blue bill is pointed with fine serrations near the tip; perhaps because of the depth and speed of the gannet's dive when fishing (depending on altitude, gannets hit the water at speeds of between 40 and 86 km/h (25 and 53 mph)), its beak has no external nostrils into which the water might be forced. The widely mentioned maximum speed of 120 km/h has never been measured and published. German naturalist Hinrich Lichtenstein described the Cape gannet in 1823.
No audio on this page yet
We only publish recordings we may use commercially, because this site is supported by ads. xeno-canto lists 15 recordings for this species: 8 CC BY-NC-SA · 7 CC BY-NC-ND. None of them permits commercial use, so there is no player here — the page is kept as a profile so the bird is not missing from the guide.
As soon as someone uploads a freely licensed recording, we mirror it and the player appears here.
Listed as recorded in South Africa in the xeno-canto catalogue.
Related species you can hear
- Northern GannetMorus bassanusrecording
This species has no recording here yet — these relatives do, so you can hear what the family sounds like.