In A Flap
Good light at the end of the day at Cape St. Mary's Ecological Reserve is not a given, but sometimes things just work out and the light on this evening was great.
A couple things to note in this image. First is the obvious that the northern gannet is flapping its wings as part of the grooming process, and raising a bunch of dust and debris into the air as it does so. The gannets shake their head from side to side as they do their flapping. The second is that there is a young gannet tucked partly under an adult just in behind the subject. These youngsters have a natural mortality rate, but if a disease like avian flu is running rampant in the colony, many will die. Also, if the fish gannets rely on are scarce due to weather patterns or over fishing, many will starve. This colony was heavily impacted by the flu that broke out during the COVID pandemic, but the numbers have bounced back.
In A Flap
Good light at the end of the day at Cape St. Mary's Ecological Reserve is not a given, but sometimes things just work out and the light on this evening was great.
A couple things to note in this image. First is the obvious that the northern gannet is flapping its wings as part of the grooming process, and raising a bunch of dust and debris into the air as it does so. The gannets shake their head from side to side as they do their flapping. The second is that there is a young gannet tucked partly under an adult just in behind the subject. These youngsters have a natural mortality rate, but if a disease like avian flu is running rampant in the colony, many will die. Also, if the fish gannets rely on are scarce due to weather patterns or over fishing, many will starve. This colony was heavily impacted by the flu that broke out during the COVID pandemic, but the numbers have bounced back.