Jonathan Livingston Seagull was a gannet.

Winter can be gloomy on the Eastern Shore.  The winds are strong, the trees are bare, and most of our boats are winterized.  But winter can bring a bounty of visitors from the north in search of food.   One of these visitors is the Northern Gannet.   

When you spy a bird that looks like a seagull on a suicide mission you have more than likely spotted a gannet.  Recognizable by its black wing-tips as well as its signature dive, it climbs into the sky over deep water and rotates into a harrowing rocket-like, life-threatening plunge sometimes reaching depths of 30 feet into the chilly waters of the Atlantic, seconds later emerging gracefully onto the surface.  If they are successful they have already consumed a fish or two while underwater.  Take-off for the gannet is not nearly as graceful as the dive.  It looks awkward and cumbersome, but any lack of grace is quickly forgotten when they plunge toward the water once again.

The Northern Gannet is a common bird that spends the summer months nesting on cliffs northward in Quebec and Newfoundland.   They are monogamous, choosing a mate and sticking with it for life.   While they share the responsibility of incubating, the male bird does more sitting on the egg than his mate; both parents also participate in providing food for the chick once hatched.   Young birds have brown plumage turning gradually white until they reach maturity at five years.  Their bill is light blue as is their eyes. 

This video is shot off the coast of South Africa but our gannets' dives look the same (at least to this untrained eye) as their cousins and it is incredible to see from below the surface.  Notice how all the animals compliment one another in the hunt.  It makes one wonder if the same activity is going on below the surface in the waters surrounding the Eastern Shore where we see the Northern Gannet hunting its prey.   It only seems logical...

The gannet is closely related to the booby and are the largest seabirds in the North Atlantic.  To borrow some cool facts from Wikipedia:

Gannets hunt fish by diving from a height into the sea and pursuing their prey underwater. Gannets have a number of adaptations which enable them to do this:

• they have no external nostrils (Think about what this would do for your diving skills!)
• they have air sacs in their face and chest under their skin which act like bubble wrapping, cushioning the impact with the water;
• their eyes are positioned far enough forward on their face to give them binocular vision, allowing them to judge distances accurately.

Gannets can dive from a height of 30 m, achieving speeds of 100 km/h as they strike the water, enabling them to catch fish much deeper than most airborne birds.
The gannet's supposed capacity for eating large quantities of fish has led to "gannet" becoming a disapproving description of somebody who eats excessively, similar to "glutton".

So, next time you see a bird that you think is a seagull taking a mad dive, remember it is our winter guest, the Northern Gannet.  Try to take some time to watch this bird in action.  It is really exciting. What a way to get your dinner!

For the car traveler, pulling off to watch from one of the islands of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel is probably your best bet for spotting this bird in action. 

Know any more fun facts about the gannet or great places to go and watch them?  Post it here.  We welcome your comments.