Northern Gannet

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Northern Gannet

The Northern Gannet (Morus bassanus, formerly Sula bassana) is a seabird

Seabird

Seabirds are birds that have adaptation to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behavior and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same environmental problems and feeding ecological niche have resulted in similar adaptations....
and is the largest member of the gannet

Gannet

Gannets are seabirds in the family Sulidae, closely related to the Booby.The gannets are large black and white birds, with long pointed wings and long bills....
family, Sulidae

Sulidae

The bird family Sulidae comprises the gannets and booby. Both groups are medium-large coastal seabirds that plunge-dive for fish. The species in this family are often considered congeneric, placing all in the genus Sula....
.

g birds are dark brown in their first year, and gradually acquire more white in subsequent seasons until they reach maturity after five years.

Adults are 81-110 cm (32-43 in) long, weigh 2.2-3.6 kg (4.8-7.9 lbs) and have a 165-180 cm (65-71 in) wingspan.

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Encyclopedia

The Northern Gannet (Morus bassanus, formerly Sula bassana) is a seabird

Seabird

Gannet

Gannets are seabirds in the family Sulidae, closely related to the Booby.The gannets are large black and white birds, with long pointed wings and long bills....
family, Sulidae

Sulidae

Description

Young birds are dark brown in their first year, and gradually acquire more white in subsequent seasons until they reach maturity after five years.

Adults are 81-110 cm (32-43 in) long, weigh 2.2-3.6 kg (4.8-7.9 lbs) and have a 165-180 cm (65-71 in) wingspan. Before fledging, the immature birds (at about 10 weeks of age) can weigh more than 4 kg (8.8 lbs). Their plumage is white with black wing tips. The bill is light bluish. The eye is light blue, and it is surrounded by bare, black skin. During breeding, the head and neck are brushed in a delicate yellow.

Distribution

Their breeding range is the North Atlantic

Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions; with a total area of about 106.4 million square kilometres . It covers approximately one-fifth of the Earth's surface....
. They normally nest

Bird nest

A bird nest is the spot in which a bird lays and Avian incubation its egg and raises its young. While the term popularly refers to a specific structure made by the bird itself?such as the grassy cup nest of the American Robin or Eurasian Blackbird, or the elaborately woven hanging nest of the Montezuma Oropendola, the Village Weaver or the...
in large colonies, on cliffs overlooking the ocean or on small rocky islands. The largest colony of this bird, with over 60,000 birds, is found on Bonaventure Island

Bonaventure Island

Bonaventure Island is a Canada island located off the southern coast of Quebec's Gasp? Peninsula, southeast of the village of Perc?, Quebec....
, Quebec

Quebec

Quebec , in French language, Qu?bec , is a Provinces and territories of Canada in the Central Canada and Eastern Canada regions of Canada....
, but 68% of the world population breeds around the coasts of Great Britain

Great Britain

Great Britain is an island lying to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the List of islands by area, and the largest in Europe. With a population of 58.9 million people it is List of islands by population....
, with the largest colonies on the Bass Rock

Bass Rock

The Bass Rock, or simply The Bass, is an island in the outer part of the Firth of Forth in the east of Scotland, approximately one mile off North Berwick....
(whence the species' Latin name) and Boreray, St Kilda

Boreray, St Kilda

Boreray is an uninhabited island in the St Kilda, Scotland archipelago in the North Atlantic....
.

In the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
, gannets are a protected species. However, a legal exception is made for the inhabitants of the town of Ness (also known as Port Nis) of the Isle of Lewis who are allowed to kill up to 2,000 gannets (locally known as guga) annually to serve as a traditional local delicacy - the taste is described as fish

Fish

A fish is any marine biology vertebrate animal that is typically ectothermic , covered with scale , and equipped with two sets of paired fins and several unpaired fins....
y.

Many of these gannets are taken from Sula Sgeir

Sula Sgeir

Sula Sgeir is a small, uninhabited Scotland island in the North Atlantic, west of North Rona. One of the most remote of the British Isles, it lies more than forty miles north of Lewis and is best known for its population of Northern Gannets....
which is itself named after them.

Ecology

Gannet pairs may remain together over several seasons. They perform elaborate greeting rituals at the nest, stretching their bills and necks skywards and gently tapping bills together.

They are migratory

Bird migration

Bird migration refers to the regular seasonal journeys undertaken by many species of birds. Bird movements include those made in response to changes in food availability, habitat or weather....
and most winter at sea, heading further south in the Atlantic.

These birds are spectacular divers, plunging into the ocean at high speed. They mainly eat small fish

Fish

A fish is any marine biology vertebrate animal that is typically ectothermic , covered with scale , and equipped with two sets of paired fins and several unpaired fins....
which gather in groups near the surface. Although they are powerful and agile fliers, they are clumsy in takeoffs and landings.

Although Northern Gannet populations are now stable, their numbers were once greatly reduced due to loss of habitat

Habitat (ecology)

A habitat is an ecological or Natural_environment area that is inhabited by a particular animal or plant species. It is the natural environment in which an organism lives, or the physical environment that surrounds a species population....
, removal of eggs and killing of adults.

Old names for the Northern Gannet include solan, solan goose and solant bird.

Photo gallery

External links

on the Internet Bird Collection
South Dakota Birds and Birding
VIREO