Seabirds in Winter – The Gannet

Juvenile Northern Gannet - Heather O'Corry-Crowe copy.jpg

Just off our coast an epic scene of nature plays out. Scudding clouds race across a blue sky as the sun flashes off the jade green rollers breaking over the reef. Ocean spray wisps off the cresting waves and hurtles towards your squinting face as you brace for what a Florida winter storm can hit you with. Glad to be on terra firma on such a day, the beach that I walk has not escaped the ocean’s power; what was once a gently sloping strand is now a deeply terraced shoreline, testament to successive land grabs by a hungry sea.

Out there, through all this drama, large white seabirds, brilliant in the sunshine, seem to rejoice in the swirling clash of water, wind, light and sound. These are northern gannets. With a stout body, long tapered wings tipped with black, and a sharp bill, they seem supremely adapted to a life on the wild Atlantic. If you’re out for a brisk walk along the beach look out to sea and you could be rewarded with an aerial display second to none. These birds can achieve incredible speeds as they harness the wind to wheel and dive, swoop and rise again only to stall, bank ….and then dive once more. They can gather in large numbers over a shoal of fish and the sight of countless dive-bombing gannets churning up the ocean’s surface is quite a spectacle.

Gannets are rarely seen on land outside of their summer breeding season where they can form enormous colonies on remote offshore rocks. As they are winter visitors to our waters, gannets ordinarily stay at sea. A few weeks ago, my daughter, Heather, and her friend, Ivy, were at the beach and found a large, immobilized seabird that appeared unwell. A quick photo and text from Heather followed by a short drive had me on the beach within minutes looking at a beleaguered juvenile gannet. Was it injured or sick in some way? It was hard to tell. Its immobility suggested it might have sustained an injury. The would-be rescuers had carefully monitored and guarded the bird (a speckled brown not yet the pure white of an adult) and now assisted with its capture, careful transport home and care.

Early the following morning our charge was brought 45 miles north to the Florida Wildlife Hospital and Sanctuary in Melbourne, where are incredibly helpful team happily took care of the surprisingly placid yet alert bird. We learned through this experience that juvenile gannets can become cold-stunned or exhausted and sometimes land on our beaches. In this state, the birds will likely recover on their own given time but are vulnerable. If you find an immobilized bird on the beach, monitor it from a distance and note any details that may be important. Then call the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s (FWC) Wildlife Alert Hotline (1-888-404-3922), visit the Florida Wildlife Hospital and Sanctuary ‘s very helpful site https://floridawildlifehospital.org/found-a-seabird/or call a wildlife rehabilitator.

Next time you’re on the beach look far out to sea and watch for a flash of white piercing the blue.

ABOUT GREG

Before coming to FAU’s Harbor Branch, Greg earned both his bachelor’s degree and his doctorate degree from University College Dublin in Ireland, researching badgers, a small mammal related to weasels, minks and otters. So, how did he end up in Florida researching whales thousands of miles away? Once Greg graduated with his doctorate degree, he moved to California in search of jobs. After facing several rejections, one person at the Southwest Fisheries Science Center in San Diego said he had a small project on belugas no one was working on. He was shocked at such a unique opportunity to work with marine mammals. “I pounced on that,” he says. “And the rest, as they say, is history.”