While interning on White Island in the Isles of Shoals, NH, this summer (2011), I encountered a juvenile Northern Gannet (NOGA). White Island and Seavey Island, which are connected at low tide, are extremely small islands that are primarily occupied by three species of Terns during the summer months. However, there are also many other species of birds that live in the area or that fly by during the course of the summer. One of these species, Northern Gannets, rarely land on White and Seavey islands; rather, they can often be seen offshore, diving and catching fish. However, at one point this summer, a juvenile Northern Gannet appeared and remained on the islands for a few days. It seemed like it might be injured; it was capable of flight but one of it's wings looked funky while it was flying, and it primarily just sat on the outer, rocky edge of one of the islands. If it got too close to the Terns, they dive-bombed it and chased it out of their breeding area like they do to all other interlopers in their territory.
Once, when I was walking around the outer edge of Seavey Island doing gull control, I was forced to walk near it on my way, and I recorded a video of its reaction to my approach. It was very clearly upset at my proximity, and squawked at me. I walked by it as quickly as I could to avoid disturbing it too much.
Posted By Johanna Brophy (1)
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Hey Johanna,
ReplyDeleteNice video and it is so awesome that you had an internship near the water.
When you were observing the juvenile northern gannet, did you notice any predators looking to attack it? I feel like other birds would suspect that something was wrong with the gannet since it was not with its other birds and see it as prime opportunity to fight. But this would only be for food, meaning the gannet was going to be dinner, since fighting is very energy costly.
I hope I wasn't too grim.
Posted by Whitney Huynh
How many times did you see this bird? I'm curious because did you observe it only squawking at you or at anything else that approached it? I also wonder if it called out for help from its parents or if it just kept silent for the most part.
ReplyDeletePosted by James Lin
I hope the bird healed ok. Many birds will feast on weaker, injured birds especially around mating season like we saw in the seagull video. I hope it healed alright and was able to go back to its normal life.
ReplyDeleteIf it normally had a diet of fish, I wonder what its food source was while it was injured. Did it switch to vegetation or was it still able to forage on fish.
Even if this animal did heal, what was the damage from being out of the game for so long. If its diet was altered a lot then its appearance might not be attractive to females and might not be able to fight and forage as well even after it healed. I highly doubt this bird will reproduce successfully.
Posted by Noelle Kellicker
Poor bird! You interned near the Appledore, where "Signals for Survival" was filmed! This video showed that the bird, when threatened by your proximity, was able to transmit signals of threat as a layer of defense before resorting to fight or flight. You may or may not have been scared by its squawking though, which shows the variation of interspecies responses to signals.
ReplyDeletePosted by Michael Shi
The clip really helps express how the bird reacted to your presence. It’s interesting to watch its behavior considering its visual display and call share similarities to that of the gulls in the video we watched in class: the spreading of the wings, the repeated calls. How long was the Gannet stranded on the island? Did it ever leave the island?
ReplyDeletePosted by Austin Gray
That's pretty cool that you were able to get a video of this during your internship! The footage reminds me of the clips we saw of the gulls in class. It seems like you got a recording of a defense call and display. Where you involved at all in research for animal communication or were you there for something else and just happened to get this footage?
ReplyDeletePosted by Janelle Hayes
The poor bird! It seems as though he is acting very territorial and threatened by your proximity. His tall posture, wide wing span, and loud, high pitch call is actually very intimidating. I wonder if he was calling for his mate to come and help him protect his territory, like the gulls did when threatened by other species.
ReplyDeletePosted by Abbie Saranteas
I interned at a wildlife recovery center last winter and we nursed back to health a juvenile Canada Goose. Surprisingly often, juveniles sometimes just fail to support themselves when they leave the nest; whether by lack of communication from the parents or sheer bad luck, they can fail to feed and protect themselves. It would be interesting (though grim) to follow a bird that is able to leave the nest but fails to support itself, and study back on why that happened.
ReplyDelete-Joey Needleman
Could you tell whether this bird was a juvenile or an adult? If it was juvenile, it may have been injured after leaving the nest and was trying to figure out what to do about it. The fact that it made it to the island is a good sign- if its wing was injured close to the joint, it would have a very small chance of recovering enough to be able to fly efficiently. It may not have been matured enough to express the right calls correctly when it was attacked by the terns or when you approached it. If the wing healed incorrectly, it may have made it harder for the gannet to fly, which may have been the reason it stopped at the island in the first place. It was probably scared to death of you approaching it if it was compromised. I don't think it will have a very good chance in the wild of passing on its genes.
ReplyDeletePosted by Chelsea Van Thof
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ReplyDeleteHi Everyone, I will just answer some of the questions people asked:
ReplyDeleteI never noticed any predators trying to attack the Gannet, it was just keeping to itself on the edge of the island. However, this is unusual behavior, because there aren't any Northern Gannet nesting sites on our island, and the juvenile probably shouldn't have been on its own. I didn't notice when it left or for how long it stayed in the area, but it was there for at least a couple of days. I'm not sure if it was able to feed itself or if it survived. It would be interesting to see if it would be able to heal and then survive if, in fact, it was a juvenile that couldn't find its parents and had to live on its own.
Posted by Johanna Brophy