Gannett's Nesting Ritual (& flight 7 pics)

[CyberDyneSystems]

Cape St, Mary's
At Newfoundlands Southern tip of the Avalon Peninsula..
Just offshore the northern most reaches of the Gulf stream (of mexico) collide with the Arctic waters of the North Atlantic creating a nearly perpetual fog bank that influences The peninsula's weather daily.


When we arrived the fog was, as often is the case,. overwhelming...
http://images.fotopic.net/?iid=y5lhim&outx=600&noresize=1&nostamp=1

This is the Nesting ground for the East Atlantic "squadron" of Northern Gannett.
Luck was with me as we began to get patches of clear air...
http://images.fotopic.net/?iid=y5lhiq&outx=600&noresize=1&nostamp=1

The white dots are Gannetts with there nearly 7 foot wingspan.. the cliffs are close to 400 feet high,..

Out of thousands of nests bunched together on the cliff face,. the Gannets are surprisingly able to find there own little ledge,. they greet eachother with the most beautifull and sweet ritual of tapping beaks together and nuzzling...

http://images.fotopic.net/?iid=yshy3k&outx=600&oq=0&original=1&noresize=1&nostamp=1

http://images.fotopic.net/?iid=yshy3l&outx=600&oq=0&original=1&noresize=1&nostamp=1

http://images.fotopic.net/?iid=yshy3m&outx=600&oq=0&original=1&noresize=1&nostamp=1

About the only thing that could compare was these fantasic beasts in flight;

http://images.fotopic.net/?iid=yshy3o&outx=600&oq=0&original=1&noresize=1&nostamp=1

http://images.fotopic.net/?iid=yshy3n&outx=600&oq=0&original=1&noresize=1&nostamp=1

http://images.fotopic.net/?iid=yshy3p&outx=600&oq=0&original=1&noresize=1&nostamp=1



It was my true pleasure to witness these amazing creatures in such a fantastic part of the world. :)

Gannetts Diving (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?p=382830&posted=1#post382830) <=== More Here :)

[Scottes]

Nice stuff! Keep them coming!

Yes, even the "artsy farsty" stuff like the fog shot.
:wink:
Payback's a bitch, eh?
What, you don't remember?
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=45194
I've waited 3 months for this moment. :-)

[CyberDyneSystems]

Hahaha,.. Thanks Scottes..
Followed the link.. and yep.. that was really artsy fartsy! :lol:
Best part was you also linked to your first bird pic.. ;)

[Belmondo]

What a wonderful series of shots.

Those birds don't have a lot of shame, however. They obviously don't care what they do even when there's an audience. :oops: :oops: :oops:

Really well don, CDS.

[ssim]

Great shots CDS. The ones of them nuzzling and the flight ones are just awesome.

[Ed Rotberg]

Great stuff CDS. Beautiful story annotated with lovely photos. Thanks for posting.

= Ed =

[tommykjensen]

Beautiful photos

[Mills]

CDS. Thanks. Never knew they even existed before today. Amazing Creatures. Teach me more. Oh Yeah. The pictures are not too bad either.

[Moppie]

Fantastic stuff, if you really like them then you will have to make your way down this way one day.

One of the west coast beachs just west of Auckland has a huge Gannett colony on rock out crop, its less a hundred feet away from a viewing platform wich looks over the flat nesting area they use.

[thomascanty]

Wonderful pictures! The one of the white "dots" against the cliff is impressive. That place must be enormous!

[OviV]

Great stuff. How close were you able to get or did you use a really long lens?

[PacAce]

Awesome! Simply awesome! :shock:

[CyberDyneSystems]

Great stuff. How close were you able to get or did you use a really long lens?

Both :)

The nesting shots are 500mm and 100-400mm,.. the 500mm was infact too long for most of what I did at this location.

I'll post a better pic of it,. but the nesting area is on a huge wigwam shaped mound of rock just off shore of the cliff seen above. Interstingly it looks virtually identical to the one somone else posted here a few months back in New Zealand. (was that you Moppie?) Apperently there tastes in nesting ground are pretty spcific.

We are on the cliff,. and directly across from us is the wigwam.. maybe 25-45 feet away, with a 400 foot drop in between! So the birds could care less about people :)

In flight is a different story.. they fly right over head.. sometimes within arms lenght! Flight shots were pretty much all 70-200mm IS.

[iwatkins]

These are really nice CDS. Well done that man. :)

Cheers

Ian

[marie]

wow

they are just great gannet shots Cyber http://www.photography-on-the.net/forum/images/smilies/icon_eek.gif

the cliff looks great too

[eric1]

i feel like i've just sat through a national geographic special. :lol:
you got some great shots, thanks for sharing!

[MegaTrixel]

Wow!!! Now that's a place I'd really like to visit.

Excellent photographs!

[RockOne]

Beautiful shots. I like the last one of the Gannet in flight. I've seen gannets (though probably a different species?) in the Great Barrier Reef, many years ago, but didn't get any pictures, as I couldn't get close enough.

[Moppie]

Interstingly it looks virtually identical to the one somone else posted here a few months back in New Zealand. (was that you Moppie?)

It wasn't me, but that describes the nesting site perfectly. :cool:

[CyberDyneSystems]

Steve, (and Moppie) Yes,. they would be a slightly different Gannett,. though behavior and looks are still essentuailly the same.. there are three species,. Northern (what I have here) A species in your neck of the woods,. and I believe a species off the west coast of Africa... ? I'll need to look that up again.

[cmM]

superb shots CDS. The last one is dazzlingly mindblowing :-P.

[RichardtheSane]

Stunning, truly they are

Capturing the birds in this environment must have been very special for you.

[LazyPhotographer]

Wonderful!!