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Project Noah Nature School
Sula bassana
Young birds are dark brown in their first year, and gradually acquire more white in subsequent seasons until they reach maturity after five years. Adults are 81–110 cm (32–43 in) long, weigh 2.2–3.6 kg (4.9–7.9 lb) and have a 165–180 cm (65–71 in) wingspan. Before fledging, the immature birds (at about 10 weeks of age) can weigh more than 4 kg (8.8 lb). Their plumage is white with black wing tips. The bill is light bluish. The eye is light blue, and it is surrounded by bare, black skin. During breeding, the head and neck are brushed in a delicate yellow
Their breeding range is the North Atlantic. They normally nest in large colonies, on cliffs overlooking the ocean or on small rocky islands. The largest colony of this bird, with over 60,000 couples, is found on Bonaventure Island, Quebec, but 68% of the world population breeds around the coasts of Great Britain and Ireland, with the largest colonies on the Bass Rock (whence the species' Latin name) and Boreray, St Kilda. In the United Kingdom, gannets are a protected species. However, a legal exception is made for the inhabitants of the district of Ness (also known as Nìs) of the Isle of Lewis who are allowed to kill up to 2000 gannets (locally known as guga) annually to serve as a traditional local delicacy—the taste is described as fishy. Many of these gannets are taken from Sula Sgeir, which is itself named after them http://www.google.pt/url?sa=t&rct=j&......
spotted in The Vila Nova de Gaia Biological Park
Spotted on Jun 21, 2012
Submitted on Jun 21, 2012
14 Comments
Thanks Jeannette for your nice comment
Wow, great captures of a beautiful bird :)
@thanks Isabella
@thanks Ashish
@thanks Karen
Thanks you all for your nice comments,it was a very cool and relaxed scene,i dont resist to spott them again,lovely birds
What a lovely series! You have captured wonderful detail here Antonio - well done!
Great closeup....!!
Wonderful Antonio !!
Thanks Willi,in the begining i make the spottings like i'am doing now,then with the developement of the page and because i saw others do the same,i thougth it was better to put only the wiki link,recently i read many comment asking for more info in the spottings and i dicided to return to my ancien way of making spottings,it take a little more time,but in the end the reactions to that are great ,people like it more this way,info is there,,thanks again for your allways kind words
wonderful information on your spotting Antonio. Thanks so much for the work you put into your spottings, I love being able to read more about spottings, I know little about. Beautiful photos too.
@Thanks Gerardo for you nice comment
@Obrigado xará,foi a expectativa da vitória que me fez andar a correr estes ultimos 15 dias,tamos felizes cá no pedaço,o pessoal ficou doido de alegria :)
Antonio, suas fotos estão cada vez melhores. Já sei, foi a vitória de Portugal que te inspirou, não foi? :-)
@Thanks i dont resiste to spott these guy once again,they look impecable in shape
@thanks ceherzog
Wonderful series :)
What a nice look at this bird...thanks!
beautiful bird!