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Gannet family


Gannet family
Photo Information
Copyright: Pekka Valo (pekkavalo1) Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 279 W: 21 N: 1018] (3171)
Genre: Animals
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2008-07-10
Categories: Birds
Camera: Canon EOS 40D, Sigma EX 500mm f4.5 APO HSM, RAW ISO 800, Kenko Teleplus Pro 300 DG 1.4x
Exposure: f/9.0, 1/500 seconds
Details: Tripod: Yes
Photo Version: Original Version
Date Submitted: 2008-07-13 9:50
Viewed: 319
Points: 28
[Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note
Meet the Gannet family at Bempton Cliffs nature reserve. While the mother is taking care of the baby, father and grand father are taking a nap.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

The Northern Gannet (Morus bassanus, formerly Sula bassana).

Gannets are seabirds in the family Sulidae, closely related to the boobies.
The gannets are large black and white birds, with long pointed wings and long bills. Northern gannets are the largest seabirds in the North Atlantic, with a wingspan of up to 2 meters. The other two species occur in the temperate seas around southern Africa and southern Australia and New Zealand.
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;
• they have air sacs in their face and chest under their skin which act like bubble-wrap, 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".

Mating and nesting
Gannets are colonial breeders on islands and coasts, which normally lay one chalky blue egg. It takes five years for gannets to reach maturity. First-year birds are completely black, and subsequent sub-adult plumages show increasing amounts of white.
The most important nesting ground for Northern gannets is the United Kingdom with about two thirds of the world's population. These live mainly in Scotland. The rest of the world's population is divided between Canada, Ireland, Faroe Islands and Iceland, with small numbers in France (they are often seen in the Bay of Biscay), the Channel Islands and Norway. The biggest Northern gannet colony is in the Scottish islands of St Kilda; this colony alone comprises 20% of the entire world's population. Bass Rock in the Firth of Forth is also famous for its large gannet population.

Systematics and evolution
The three gannet species are now usually placed in the genus Morus, Abbott's Booby in Papasula, and the remaining boobies in Sula, but some authorities believe that all nine sulid species should be considered congeneric, in Sula. At one time, the gannets were considered to be a single species.
• Northern Gannet, (also known as "Solan Goose"), Morus bassanus
• Cape Gannet, Morus capensis
• Australasian Gannet, Morus serrator
Most fossil gannets are from the Late Miocene or Pliocene, a time when the diversity of seabirds in general was much higher than today. It is not completely clear what caused the decline in species at the end of the Pleistocene; increased competition due to the spread of marine mammals and/or supernova activity which led to mass extinctions of marine life are usually assumed to have played a role.
The genus Morus is much better documented in the fossil record than Sula, though the latter is more numerous today. The reasons are not clear; it might be that boobies were better-adapted or simply "lucky" to occur in the right places for dealing with the challenges of the Late Pliocene ecological change, or it could be that many more fossil boobies still await discovery. Notably, gannets are today restricted to temperate oceans while boobies are also found in tropical waters, whereas several of the prehistoric gannet species had a more equatorial distribution than their congeners of today.
nglen, Argus, jaycee, gracious, siggi, Jamesp, goldyrs, CeltickRanger, iris, uleko has marked this note useful
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Critiques [Translate]

  • Great 
  • nglen Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 1898 W: 4 N: 5163] (19674)
  • [2008-07-13 9:57]

Hi Pekka. The family stay together this is a good picture showing the young chick on the small leadge .you have good colours and fine detail . well done TFS. interesting notes too.

Nick..

  • Great 
  • Argus Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2492 W: 132 N: 7090] (22145)
  • [2008-07-13 10:10]

Hello Pekka,
Excellent capture of a preening Gannet family. A fine composition taken from a good POV. You get excellent sharpness with that Sigma 500 plus teleconverter. The 740 mm focal length allows you to take this sort of shot at a distance that would be impractical for me.
TFS this great shot,
Ivan

Hello Pekka
This is a superb capture of the gannet family taken at quite a range looking at your setup..Super sharp details on a very hard to capture shot.
All the Best
Paul

  • Great 
  • jaycee Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 1684 W: 8 N: 4321] (14053)
  • [2008-07-13 10:52]

HI Pekka,

An unbelievable shot of this Gannet Family on the ledge. Looks like a typical family with the men sleeping and the mother caring for the adorable baby :-) You captured them perfectly with beautiful colors and marvelous details. What a thrill seeing this must have been. TFS. I love it!

Jane

Hello Pekka,
Compliment for a fine and good closeup image on the Gannet family!
the image is sharp with beautiful colour and details to view through their natural surrounding!
a pleasing presentation indeed
well done
Tony

  • Great 
  • siggi Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 198 W: 2 N: 514] (1936)
  • [2008-07-13 12:27]

Hello Pekka
this is very nice group
very good sharp
well done.
Siggi

  • Great 
  • PeterZ Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1109 W: 59 N: 2247] (7449)
  • [2008-07-13 12:42]

Hello Pekka,
Great photo in a great composition. POV, colours, sharpness, details and poses are all excellent. Very beautiful scene.
Regards,
Peter

  • Great 
  • Jamesp Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 1210 W: 0 N: 4626] (13756)
  • [2008-07-13 14:23]

Hi Pekka

Great shot of these gannets - great pose with good detail and colour.

James

  •      
  • goldyrs Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 536 W: 55 N: 1203] (4362)
  • [2008-07-13 17:16]

What an asonishingly beautiful shot, Pekka!
The entire family seems to be busy, a mother grooming the young one, two others grooming themselves!
Very well done!
Goldy
;) later

  • Great 
  • gannu Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 840 W: 4 N: 2081] (9772)
  • [2008-07-14 5:16]

Hello Pekka, What are they doing there? Having a ball time or meeting? Nice sharp details. Ganesh

hello Pekka

lovely image of this beautiful scene of the Gannet family,
fine POV, beautiful natural colours, excellent sharpness
and details of the birds and specially the rocks, TFS

Asbed

  • Great 
  • joey Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1583 W: 242 N: 5286] (18629)
  • [2008-07-14 15:07]

Hi Pekka,
great family shot of these Gannets... this would look great framed and up on the wall of their home :-)
Excellent composition.
Perfectly exposed.
Great sharpness.

Very well done,
Joe

Hi Pekka, great capture of a lot of beautibul birds, good details and splendid sharpness, very well done, ciao Silvio

  • Great 
  • iris Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 361 W: 39 N: 664] (2071)
  • [2008-07-16 21:41]

I see the parent taking care of the chick..Pekka...isnt this an amazing experience to look at the family together just huddled up just like a human family would.

Superb Dof and colours and details.The action in the scene has many elements and each one contributes to the beauty of the scene.

Your powerful equipment i see has a lot of role in helping yopu get these wonderful shots that is ideally not easily reachable nor easily capturable from a close range.

A very impressive presentation.

TFS & Cheers

  • Great 
  • uleko Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2375 W: 164 N: 7131] (22536)
  • [2008-07-17 0:09]

Hej Pekka,
What a wonderful capture of this Gannet family nesting on the narrow cliff ledge! I don't know how you manage to get so close and to get such brilliant captures! Excellent DOF and very sharp details. Beautiful colours too and a lovely composition!
TFS and cheers, Ulla

  •      
  • jignasi Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 695 W: 0 N: 1096] (8466)
  • [2008-07-23 14:07]

Preciosa imagen Pekka, con unos colores muy bien captados y unas preciosas texturas del plumaje de las aves. El encuadre en la parte superior a mi entender queda algo justo (cerrado), pero por lo demás, una excelente fotografía.
Saludos y tks por tus amables comentarios.

Josep Ignasi Tejedor.

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