2. Wildlife

Seabirds

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This ganet is giving the photographer the ole evil eye.
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This ganet is giving the photographer the ole evil eye.

  • Gannet getting ready for flight. They dive off the cliffs to fish in the ocean below.
  • Gannets spend most of the year at sea feeding. They will return each year to the rocky coast of the Canadian Maritime to nest. Thousands will nest in a small place. They are very noisy. This gannet sits on the cliffs at sunset.
  • Gannets are large black and white seabirds with long pointed wings and long bills. To photograph them, cliff climbing is necessary. The sun is going down giving this bird a glow.
  • The black-legged kittiwake is a member of the gull family and live at sea most of the year except for nesting. They return to the high cliffs to hatch their chicks in a most dangerous location. They lay one or two eggs in a nest of moss, grass and seaweed. The chicks must be very careful.
  • This is a very odd community, but it seems to work. The gannets have built small mounds upon which they will lay one egg. Gannets will mature in five years and will begin to breed.
  • The puffins normally form long term relationships with their spouses. They stand out because of their orange legs and red beak. The red beak occurs only during mating season.
  • The black Guillemot is a seabird that can be found in the North Atlantic. They have beautiful features with a black body, large white patches on their wings and red feet. They swim underwater to find fish and other prey.
  • This group of Atlantic Puffins are standing on the top of the cliffs on their island. Just below there are dens in the rocks used for nesting. They dig tunnels into the soil and line these tunnels with leaves, grass and feathers.
  • With miles of cliffs available to them, the gannets pick one place for thousands to nest.
  • Untitled photo
  • It appears that one lone gannet has gotten up to greet the morning. The colony is always over crowded and a good deal of squabbling goes on.
  • This is a busy time in the gannet colony as everyone wakes at first light. Things become busy, with those nesting and those fishing.
  • Puffins are found on lonely islands in the Atlantic Ocean. They spend most of the year at sea feeding and return to their nesting grounds in summer. Their black and white uniforms remind me of Napoleonic soldiers.
  • The gannets build small nest in the shape of a mound with room for one egg.
  • Gannets are very affectionate with their mate. They go through this ritual of preening each other and making a general racket.
  • The gannet colony has to be one of the noisiness places on earth. Morning, noon, and night, Blaa, Blaa, Blaa. There isn't much room, so disputes and much vocalization can be heard.
  • The flight of the fisherman.
  • Gannets take considerable time preening their feathers.
  • The black-legged kittiwake nest high on the cliffs above the ocean. Life is dangerous for new chicks.
  • This ganet is giving the photographer the ole evil eye.
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