The Northern Gannet

The Northern Gannet, Morus bassanus, is an amazing bird. Many non-birders have never seen the likes of this thing, as they usually ply the winds and water just out of view for the landlubber. In fact, as I was taking these photos, one of the guys on the boat asked me, "what is that, some kind of female seagull?" Clearly we need to re-engauge our relationship with nature. Here are a couple of photos of Gannets that I took last week, on my last trip on the lobster boat. Sorry I've been blowing the blogging thing yet again, but not any more. I pledge to blog every othah day for evah! The BirdSong Diaries is gonna get old fast!

Gannets were one of the most affected birds of the Deepwater Horizon Disaster, as they winter and forage throughout the Gulf of Mexico. Though many were on their way to breeding colonies in northern Canada when the rig blew, a lot of younger birds remained behind to enjoy the bounty of the Louisiana Coast throughout their first year of life. Instead, they dove on pogies and surfaced with a sticky goo all over their plumage, and they died grizzly deaths out on the ocean, unable to thermoregulate or forage. Since there was NO effort to search for, count, or survey for seabirds in the first two months of the disaster, the world will NEVER know the actual toll taken on these guys.
Gannets are known for their spectacular dives. They will often plummet from heights of 30 feet or more onto schools of herring below, and actually use their wings to swim after fish as they rocket through the water. This one is wheeling around, just before a dive.





Northern Gannets are relatives of the Blue-footed Booby, the comical bird popularized by Darwin and Kurt Vonnegut for their goofy courtship rituals. Gannets have similar courtship and mating displays. They are long-lived birds with amazing survival strategies.