Northern Gannets in New York Waters

By Corey • January 26, 2010 • 3 comments

This will be the last post using material from the pelagic trip I took over a week ago, but I think I might have saved the best for last. Northern Gannets Morus bassanus are an amazing bird to watch, especially from a boat where one can see them up close in their element. On the trip I was at first disappointed at how few gannets we saw and though we didn’t tally too many total, towards the end of the trip we had a couple that cooperated nicely, coming in for chum and buzzing the boat. We never saw them do a full-on plunge dive but, really, we didn’t need to: just the experience of seeing them from so close was more than enough!

I really enjoyed taking pictures of the Northern Gannets and I think I did a decent job capturing what this graceful bird is all about…

Tags: features, gannets, new york, pelagic

Looking for a good book or field guide? We've got some suggestions...

Explore These Related Posts

...Or These Blasts From The Past

About the Author

Corey

Corey is a lifelong upstate New Yorker who recently took the plunge and moved to the city. He's only been birding since 2005 but has garnered a respectable life list and broke the magical 300 barrier in New York State in 2007 by birding whenever he wasn't working as a union representative. He lives near Forest Park in Queens with Daisy, their son, Desmond, and their two indoor cats, Hunter and B.B.

3 Responses to “Northern Gannets in New York Waters”

Mary Jan 26th, 2010 at 6:25 am

Corey, these photos are spectactular!
John Jan 26th, 2010 at 2:00 pm

Beautiful photos, Corey!
Amy Jan 26th, 2010 at 10:23 pm

We tried and failed to see these guys during a few visits to the NL coast. We did get to see them close up at a seaside rehab - so striking. Your photos are great!

Share Your Thoughts

Asides

How Birding Helps Everyone

You may not realize it but you are doing your part. Betsy S. Franz has compiled 10 Ways that Birders and Wildlife Watchers will Help Save the Planet. I like how she summarizes each impact.

Kaufman Field Guides

Kenn Kaufman has written five superb field-guides (that’s about five more than 99.9% of the world’s birders) - and in a competition arranged with his wife Kim we are going to be giving away THREE sets of ALL five books to three 10,000 Birds Conservation Club members next month. Was a 25USD investment EVER such good value?

Minke Whales NOT booming

The justification used by Japan that the Minke Whale population is booming and thereby stopping other whales recovering is - as a rational person might suspect - a pile of complete doo-doo. A widely reproduced report shows that the Minke population has remained relatively stable and that the idea of ‘culling’ them for scientific research is hokum. Now wait for a new argument for continued killing from the corrupt International Whaling Commission in the coming weeks…

UK: Big Garden Birdwatch

The weather is set to be fairly awful (again/still/typical/whatever) in the UK this weekend so why not sit by a window in a comfy chair and take part in the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch? I will be - and then sending in my sightings to help the RSPB ascertain the state of the UK’s garden birds population. Will I get my first House Sparrow of the year? A Starling, Collared Dove, or Feral Pigeon? The excitement mounts (a bit)…