I am a flightless seabird and when I am an adult I will weigh about 6 1/2 pounds and I will be about 28 inches tall. Like all others of my species I am an aquatic bird. This means you will often find me in the water, and unable to fly. You find my species of birds in a variety of climates ranging from Antarctica to the warm Galapagos Islands located at the equator. There are eighteen species of birds like me recognized in the world. I am the only bird of my species found in warm southern and southwestern Africa. I am restricted to a particular area of the world. People observe me nowhere in the world except off the coast of southern Africa. We produce our young birds on 24 offshore islands between Namibia and Port Elizabeth and recently some of my breeding cousins established themselves on the mainland.
Nesting on the mainland is unusual for my species of bird because we ground nest and are vulnerable to the many predators on the mainland. Some of the predators not found on the islands are leopards, genets, domestic dogs and cats. Also people disturb us unless they adequately fence and patrol the colonies.
We used to nest by burrowing into guano. People removed for fertilizer in the 19th century most of the nutrient rich guano. We now nest in burrows in sand, under overhanging rocks, under bushes, or even in the open.
We are fast swimmers agile swimmers with an average speed of about 4 1/2 miles per hour. While other birds swim by using their feet we use our wings to propel ourselves through the water.
Because it is warm year around we can breed at any time of the year, and my female mate usually laying two eggs. Most of the adult birds of my species feed during the day and we feed the chicks regurgitated food in the late afternoon. Both my mate and I take turns in guarding the nest site and catching food.
After the baby birds hatch they are already covered with thick feathers that provides insulation and waterproofing. My diet consists mainly of fish that includes sardine, anchovy, crustaceans and sometimes I also eat squid. I feed strictly at sea, foraging regularly nine miles from shore but rarely to sixty miles out.
My species of bird, the least studied birds at this time so sciences know little of my breeding habits. We have suffered serious reduction in population the last three decades because oil spills from tankers.
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