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Cape Pigeon (Pintado)

Daption capense

Not often seen around Ulva Island, but easily identified if present. I've only seen them in Paterson Inlet during very heavy weather as they are generally a bird of the open ocean.

Cape pigeons are fussy, squabbling birds which will feed around fishing vessels hove-too cleaning fish.

Their distinctive black & white patterning makes them one of the easiest of small seabirds to identify.

The rest of the world seems to know them as Pintado, but here they are Cape Pigeons

Size 400 mm


Cape Pigeon. Typical Cape Pigeon racket
Competition. Seabirds competing for offal around a fishing boat are extremely aggressive. Here the Cape pigeons are being sidelined by the albatross and large shearwaters. However they seldom miss out as they will hoover up the smaller scraps the large bird miss.
Noisy This large flock of "Capies" are in typical squabbling feeding mode.. Note the distance they give the Giant Petrel (GP, Nellie or Stinker)