Northern Gannet — printable fact sheet

Did you know?

• Despite their size and dramatic dives, Northern Gannets can fly up to 65 km/h and migrate thousands of kilometers each year between breeding and wintering grounds.
• Gannets defecate to maintain the strict spacing of a colony — nests are placed almost exactly one outstretched neck and bill apart, so that a sitting bird cannot quite reach its neighbour. Chicks are fed until they are heavier than their parents, then abandoned; the fledgling flutters down to the sea, cannot fly for a couple of weeks because it is too fat, and swims south, losing weight until it can take off. The blue eye-ring and the pale buff wash on the head come from a carotenoid pigment and fade in poor-condition birds.