No fish today!

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No fish today!
Photo Information
Copyright: Pekka Valo (pekkavalo1) Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 241 W: 21 N: 861] (2657)
Genre: Plants
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2008-05-03
Categories: Birds
Camera: Canon EOS 1D Mark II, Canon 100-400 L + 1.4x Extender, RAW ISO 400, B+W 77 010 UV-Haze 1 x
Exposure: f/10.0, 1/400 seconds
Photo Version: Original Version
Theme(s): Joe's Favourites 2 [view contributor(s)]
Date Submitted: 2008-05-10 2:38
Viewed: 659
Favorites: 1 [view]
Points: 50
[Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note
Has this adult Gannet turned vegetarian? I don't think so. This is likely to be nest building though their nests are not very impressive. Shot at RSPB Bempton Cliffs nature reserve.

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.
Gert-Paassen, thor68, haraprasan, mariki, henrique, Argus, jaycee, darwin, Amadeo, SelenE, nglen, CeltickRanger, jusninasirun, eqshannon, gracious, hester, inked has marked this note useful
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Critiques [Translate]

Hello Pekka,

Great close up from this beautiful bird.
Great of detail, i love the pose from the bird.

Gert

*lol* gannets eat grass? or do they smoke it? who knows. excellent portrait of the pretty bird,
love the details especially the full beak and the eye-contact. superb job & best wishes, thor.

Hi Pekka,
A nice captured closeup of this gannet. Excellent composition and sharp details. Thanks a lot for sharing.

Hello Pekka,

Wonderful portrait. Great composition and sharpness. Splendid colours.
Cheers,
Mariki

Excellent photo.Very nice colors and light.Also very sharp.
Regards,
Nikos.

A striking and very different take on this lovely bird Pekka.Excellent work!
Goldy

Olá Pekka.

Que bela imagem você compartilha conosco !
Muito clara com riquissimos detalhes.!!!
Parabéns
Henrique

  • Great 
  • Argus Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2416 W: 132 N: 6653] (20877)
  • [2008-05-10 7:02]

Hello Pekka,
Superb close portrait of a Gannet with nesting material in its bill with fine sharpness and set in an excellent composition.
Though the title is funny, there is also a serious side, with a lack of fish for these sea-birds and serious drops in populations, especially the auks.
TFS this fine image and good luck with the Little Ringed Plover!
Ivan

  • Great 
  • jaycee Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 1675 W: 8 N: 4022] (13255)
  • [2008-05-10 8:59]

Hi Pekka,

Great shot of the Gannet with a beak full of nesting materials. Magnificent details of the beautiful face, eye and beak. Colors are wonderful. Excellent close-up and a lovely composition.

Jane

Hi Pekka
Great portrait with superb detail
Lovely color and composition. tfs jon

Hola Pekka, excelente primer plano de este Alcatraz atlantico, probablemente construyendo el nido. Una toma nitida, con buen color y bien iluminada. Un saludo

Hello Pekka,
Wonderful sharp detailed close-up. The colours are amazingly clear. Great composition, POV, DOF and pose.
Regards,
Peter

  • Great 
  • SelenE Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2337 W: 59 N: 4094] (13345)
  • [2008-05-10 11:38]

Hi Pekka,
Very good portrait of this gannet. I like the lighting, colors, POV, details, pose you captured and background a lot. Well done and TFS
Best wishes,
Selen

  • Great 
  • Jamesp Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 1223 W: 0 N: 4449] (13290)
  • [2008-05-10 13:20]

Hi Pekka

Magnificent shot. I have never managed to get so close to a gannet at Bempton. Brilliant work!

James

  • Great 
  • joey Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1555 W: 233 N: 5091] (17959)
  • [2008-05-10 13:52]

What a fantastic shot, Pekka!
The clarity and sharpness here is exceptional!
Superb exposure and light.
Great composition and POV.
Excellent DOF.
This is one of your best so far!
Straight into my favourites!
I should be able to go to Bempton Cliffs soon... my Grandparents are due a visit :-)

Cheers!

Joe

  • Great 
  • nglen Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 1864 W: 2 N: 4738] (18250)
  • [2008-05-10 14:46]

Hi Pekka. This a first class cloe up of this beautiful bird. You have captured such a good pose with its mouthful of grass. with good colours and detail . with good use of the light. well done TFS.
Nick..

Great capture, Pekka.
Very good moment.
It is also fun...
Very good depth of field; the head and the selected grasses are
very sharp.
Well done
TFS
Annick

hello Pekka

you where at the good place the good moment to the sucj superb nature image,
very fine POV and DOF, i also love the vertical framing,
i love the excellent density of the colours, great sharpness and details,

TFS

Asbed

Hello Pekka. Super sharp mugshot of this bird in stunning pose and detail. I like all your collection which are top quality and first class. Best regards. Jusni

Wow what an eye there. A super and spot on focus. Teh subject and notes are truly interesting and quite understandable....Good gear as well..
bob

Hello Pekka,
Compliment for such a fine image of the gannet with good closeup!
very sharp with good colour and details
well done
cheers
Tony

  • Great 
  • Mana Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1687 W: 20 N: 4738] (15476)
  • [2008-05-11 0:51]

Hi Pekka,
Wonderful shot of this Gannet with a mouthful but no fish. Very impressive sharpness and details on that silky plumage with lovely colours and perfect lighting. Excellent DOF, POV and composition. Kudos.
TFS.
Sumon

Hi Pekka, superb portrait of elegant bird in great pose, good details, beautiful colors and wonderful sharpness, very well done, have a good Sunday, ciao Silvio

  • Great 
  • hester Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1497 W: 18 N: 2924] (10762)
  • [2008-05-12 11:06]

Hi Pekka

Lovely shot showing the nest building activity. Wonderfully close and detailed shot. Lovely colours and nicely framed. Beautiful.

TFS

Karan

  • Great 
  • inked Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 125 W: 0 N: 214] (634)
  • [2008-05-15 1:18]

hi Pekka,
fantastic close-up. amazing color and detail. awesome work, tfs
Gethin

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