Australasian gannet

 

This morning’s picture of a gannet colony at Muriwai on the west coast of New Zealand’s North Island might have left you wanting a better look at an individual Australasian gannet, Morus serrator, so here’s a closer view of one from that February 7th visit.

For more information about this species, you can consult New Zealand Birds Online. You’d also do well to check out Gary Bolstad’s post from 2013 showing pictures of the same nesting site and even some gannets in flight.

© 2015 Steven Schwartzman

Australasian gannets

Probably the main reason people go to Muriwai on the west coast of New Zealand’s North Island, aside from the beach itself, is the Australasian gannets (known in Māori as tākapu and in biospeak as Morus serrator) nesting on the rocks there, and that was indeed my little group’s purpose for visiting on February 7th. I took this photograph with a telephoto lens from a path on one of the surrounding bluffs where people are allowed to walk, but the nesting areas themselves are out of bounds. (Just as well, I might add, because even before you can see where the gannets are nesting, the smell downwind is strong and unpleasant.)

© 2015 Steven Schwartzman