The Cape Verde shearwater, or cagarra locally, is a medium-large shearwater, a seabird in the petrel family Procellariidae. It is endemic to the Cape Verde archipelago of Macaronesia in the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of West Africa.
Region
Eastern Tropical Atlantic (Macaronesia and West African waters)
Typical Environment
Breeds on arid, rocky islets with cliffs and scree in the Cape Verde archipelago. Outside the breeding season it is pelagic, ranging widely over the tropical and subtropical eastern Atlantic and along the West African upwelling zones. Birds often forage over continental shelf edges, oceanic fronts, and productive current systems, sometimes following fishing vessels. At colonies it uses burrows, rock crevices, or sheltered ledges for nesting.
Altitude Range
Sea level to 400 m
Climate Zone
Tropical
Ease of Keeping
Beginner friendly: 1/5
The Cape Verde shearwater, locally called cagarra, breeds only on a few small islets of the Cape Verde archipelago and spends most of its life far out at sea. It performs long, low arcs over the ocean using dynamic soaring and often forages along productive upwelling zones. Adults visit nesting colonies mostly at night to avoid predators and human disturbance. Like other large shearwaters, it lays a single egg and pairs are long-lived and strongly philopatric.
Temperament
colonial and nocturnally vocal
Flight Pattern
soaring glider with long, stiff-winged arcs close to the waves
Social Behavior
Nests in dense colonies on predator-poor islets, using burrows, rock crevices, or ledges. Pairs are monogamous, often for life, and lay a single egg with both parents sharing incubation and chick-rearing. Adults attend colonies mainly at night to reduce predation and disturbance, while by day they are at sea foraging.
Migratory Pattern
Seasonal migrant
Song Description
At colonies it gives eerie, wailing and cackling calls, mostly at night, sometimes in duets between partners. At sea it is generally quiet, emitting only occasional low calls in close interactions.
Plumage
Upperparts are dark grey-brown with a slightly paler mantle and upperwing panel; underparts are mostly white with dusky flanks and a broad dark border to the underwing. The underwing shows extensive dark coverts creating a strong contrast with the pale inner wing. Feathers appear sleek and tight, suited for marine conditions.
Diet
Feeds primarily on small fish, squid, and other cephalopods, and will take crustaceans when available. It captures prey by surface-seizing and shallow plunging, often exploiting schools driven to the surface by predators. Birds frequently associate with productive oceanic fronts and upwelling areas and may follow fishing vessels to scavenge discards. Foraging often occurs over shelf edges and deep oceanic waters.
Preferred Environment
Open ocean waters with strong upwellings, current boundaries, and convergences where prey concentrates. Common along the Canary and Guinea Current systems and adjacent offshore waters, but rarely approaches land away from breeding islands.
