Return of Bird of the Week: Cape Petrel

There are whole families of smaller birds, ranging from crow-sized to sparrow-sized, that spend their whole lives on the ocean, coming ashore only to breed. Petrels, Prions, Storm-petrels, Diving-petrels; they are all adapted to live on the ocean, with no need for fresh water. One of those smaller marine birds is the Cape Petrel, in Spanish the Pintado or Painted Petrel. It is probably the most common bird species on the Southern Ocean, and the easiest to see because it is an enthusiastic ship-follower. Their wings are a little under three feet long but the birds are only fifteen inches…