Cape gannet  (Morus capensis)

Breeding occurs at six offshore islands, three of which (Mercury, Ichaboe and Possession) are off the Namibian coast, two (Bird Island, Lambert's Bay; Malgas Island, Saldanha Bay) off the west coast of South Africa, and one (Bird Island, Port Elizabeth) off the east coast of South Africa (2) (4). The Cape gannet's wintering, non-breeding range is restricted to the coast of Africa, where adults are fairly sedentary, but young range east to Mozambique and Tanzania, and regularly north as far as Nigeria (2).

Breeding takes place in densely packed colonies either on the flat ground of the low lying islands, or on flat ledges of the steeply sloping Mercury Island (4). Nests are a mound of the birds' droppings, guano, in which other material such as feathers and bones may be mixed (3) (5) (8). The wintering range is typically confined to the continental shelf, at no more than 100 km from the coast, although birds have occasionally been recorded on oceanic waters (4).