page_title: Northern gannet
section_title: Behaviour
hierarchical_section_title: Northern gannet / Behaviour
caption_attribution_description: English: Gannet (Morus bassana), Belmont Gannets feed mainly by plunge-diving and just before impact they fold their wings back behind the tail.
context_page_description: The northern gannet is a seabird, the largest species of the gannet family, Sulidae. It is native to the coasts of the Atlantic Ocean, breeding in Western Europe, North America, and the Caribbean. The sexes are similar in appearance. The adult northern gannet has a mainly white streamlined body with a long neck, long and slender wings. It is 87–100 cm long with a 170–180 cm wingspan. The head and nape have a buff tinge that is more prominent in breeding season, and the wings are edged with dark brown-black feathers. The long pointed bill is blue-grey, contrasting with black bare skin around the mouth and eyes. Juveniles are mostly grey-brown, becoming increasingly white in the five years it takes them to reach maturity.
  Nesting takes place in colonies on both sides of the North Atlantic, the largest of which are at Bass Rock, St. Kilda and Ailsa Craig in Scotland, Grassholm in Wales, and Bonaventure Island off the coast of Quebec. Its breeding range has extended northward and eastward, colonies being established on Russia's Kola Peninsula in 1995 and Bear Island, southernmost island of Svalbard, in 2011.
context_section_description: The wings of the northern gannet are long and narrow and are positioned towards the front of the body, allowing efficient use of air currents when flying. Even in calm weather they can attain velocities of between 55 and 65 km/h (34 and 40 mph) although their flying muscles are relatively small: in other birds flying muscles make up around 20% of total weight, while in northern gannets the flying muscles are less than 13%. Despite their speed, they cannot manoeuvre in flight as well as other seabirds. Northern gannets need to warm up before flying. They also walk with difficulty and this means that they have problems getting airborne from a flat area. They take off from water by facing into the wind and strongly beating their wings. In light winds and high waves they are sometimes unable to take off and they can become beached.
  Northern gannets alight on land using angled wings, fanned tail and raised feet to control their speed, not always successfully, since damaged or broken wings were recorded as a frequent cause of death in adults at one colony.
caption: Plunge-diving with wings retracted
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