Northern Gannet Images

Northern Gannet Images, Facts and Information:

Morus bassunus

• Northern Gannets are large seabirds with long pointed wings, narrow tails, pale blue-gray eyes, long pointed bills and black-tipped primaries. Adults are mostly white with yellowish heads and necks. Males and females look alike, but males are slightly larger. The young are mostly brown.
• Northern Gannets are long distance migrators. They breed on coastal cliffs and islands in the North Atlantic including Canada, Greenland, Iceland, and Western Europe. After breeding, they migrate south for the winter to the U.S. Atlantic coast, the Gulf of Mexico, and as far south as West Africa.
• Northern Gannets thrive in marine habitats, especially open ocean, coastal waters, and near breeding islands with steep cliffs.
• Northern Gannets eat mainly fish such as mackerel, herring, sardines, and menhaden, which they catch by spectacular plunge-diving from heights of up to 130 feet.
• Northern Gannets lay 1 egg which hatches in 42 to 46 days. Both parents incubate and they are monogamous.
• A group of gannets can be called a “squadron”, “company”, or “gannetry” of gannets.
• The oldest known Northern Gannet was 35 years old.

I hope you enjoy viewing my Northern Gannet photos.