Page created on : March 24, 2000
Last updated : September 5, 2004

Most people living in and around the Gulf of St. Lawrence are familiar with the northern gannet. It's a large, fish-eating seabirg which breeds in huge numbers on or in the steep sea cliffs of this region's many islands.

The gannet is pure white except for the black tipped wings and the yellowish hue on its head. Often seen with gulls, the northern gannet is distinguished from them by a longer bill, head and neck, its sharply defined wings and a generally more streamlined body.

Unlike its scavenging friends, the gannet is a deft fisher. Its physique is adapted to diving from heights of 20 to 30 metres, entering the water head first, capturing fish and swallowing them whole.

Northern Gannets produce a single egg which is incubated over 44 days. The chick is fed with regurgitated food by its parents. After about 90 days the chick is ready to leave the nest in search of its own food. Although they are usually silent, the gannets will quarrel with loud, harsh warnings and complaints to defend their nests during periods of breeding.

There are six colonies of northeern gannets in Canada and about 70 % of the North American breeding pairs can be found in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The largest colony of 50,000 birds is on Ile Bonaventure, a wildlife sanctuary only a brief boat ride from Percé, Québec. Other colonies are found in and around the rocky shores of Newfoundland, including the Cape St. Mary's Seabird Ecological Reserve. This latter sanctuary is the only major seabird colony accessible by land. These gannets winter in the coastal waters from Florida to Virginia. It is a successful species that thrives in Iceland and the British Isles as well.