A DAY WITH THE GANNETS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 14531, 19 November 1910, Page 1 (Supplement)

A DAY WITH THE GANNETS.

BY ST. CLAIR.

Harken, thou craggy ooe-in pyramid I Give answer from thy voice, the sea fowls' screams When were thy shoulders mantled in huge streams? When from the sun was. thy broad forehead hid? How long is't since the mighty power bid Thee heave to airy sleep from fathom dreams? RBA.TS.

Off the western shores of Hatiraki Gulf lies a chain of islands — cone-shaped Rangitoto, Motutapu the sacred, Motuihi, and Waiheke— snake-like eastward. Off Waiheke in the heaving waters of the gulf lie two precipitous islets, mere specks in the distance, known to yachtsmen as the Shag and the Gannet Rocks. At daybreak, in the calm of a: perfect summer morning, we had landed on Shag Rock and had shot several of it« inhabitants, for shag flesh is the daintiest morsel known to the finny tribe, and we had in view a day's fishing. A few feet from the rock the gulf is fathoms deep, and we lowered our game-baited lines to the cool rocky depths below. The fates that control the luck of fisherman were kindly disposed, and we filled the dinghy astern in short space. Schnapper, yellowtail, butter-fish, and the luscious garnet came leaping unwillingly over the counter. Then came the eharks, and the day's fishing was at an end. Breakfast on fresh fish, toast, and boiling coffee, under an azure sky, brilliantly illuminated in the east by the rising sun, was something to be remembered in joy. Late in the afternoon, a light easterly carried us slowly along Waiheke and to the leeward of Gannet Rock we dropped anchor. We left the yacht tugging at her cable and pulled into the rocks, which rose sheer from the sea. Alongside a heavy ground swell was breaking, and we were put to it to find a landing. Presently we pulled in on top of a roller, and in a second were left stranded on a rocky ledge. The roller following close behind broke clean over us, but we held the dinghy fast, and scrambled clear none too soon. Above sat the gannets, tier upon tier, eyeing curiously our peculiar method of 'landing, and towards them we slowly climbed. This islet and the Great Barrier are the gannets' castles, where most of the gannets on the Auckland coast find nesting places, immune from danger. The rock is their own, a place where they are free from any animal intrusion, and, excepting the presence of a few despised shags and screaming gulls, they have undisturbed possession. Occasionally fishermen and curious yachtsmen pay a short visit, but for the most part these gannets are ! left to the wildness and isolation of their haunts. There are few gannet rookeries in New Zealand, and most of them are inaccessible. We were favoured. The gannet is a large snowy white bird, usually seen flying alone (at least so it is in the Hauraki Gulf), long of wing and strong of flight. His flight is truly graceful, monoplane-like, and his gliding motion against a heavy breeze is thrilling. ' He is daring; especially note his method of obtaining his food supply Descrying his prey from;, a . great height, he drops at a. terrific Speed, one wing stretched downwards and the other folded, strikes the water with' enormous force, and emerges with the surprised fish securely fastened in his bill. There, on clefts and overhanging rocks, the birds were seated in thousands, but we clambered" past them to the top of | the cliffs, into the very centre of their ! settlement. Here wo could.study.them in fullest detail. The nesting season was over, and everywhere empty nests were strewn around. In her domestic life the female gannet is indolent. Her nest is certainly inartistic, and apparently uncomfortable; it is a mere collection of sticks and seaweed arranged with no particular end in view. Her food is sought and brought by her mate, but the arrangements for disposing of the scraps are crude; the litter about the nests fur- ; nishes further proof of her antique me- j i/hods o! housekeeping. • Birds of every stage in life were represented. First the " infant," a fluffy white helpless little thing, a ball of flesh, its occupation squeaking and its mode of progression an. undignified roll. Should it venture to the cliff edge and roll over, it is "doomed. Sharks and huge schnapper have acquired a dainty teste for "chicken." Then the half-grown gannet, the youth. He has grown bigger than a duck, his body feathers are arranging themselves and whitening, and his head, which be holds with all the pride of youth, is capped with darkish brown and spotted white. Perched on an elevated rock 'he educates himself, learns to fly. Monotonously he flaps his great wings in imitation of his superiors, until at last one days he finds himself skimming down from the cliffs straight towards ■ the sea, where he falls. This, is the critical stage in his existence, he may succeed in rising out of the water, or an unkind shark may determine his end. But the fortune which favours the brave does not desert the majority of these youngsters learning to fly. The full-grown bird is a type of rare beauty. The feathers are snowy white, swan-like, the .bill yellow, tinged with blue and slightly curved, and the head crowned with feathers of a most delicate yellow hue. His manner is shy ; indeed the whole colony took wing on our approach. The sight of these great sea birds,' soaring noiselessly and without a movement of the wing, wheeling in the vault of heaven, was inspiring to a degree. Gradually they settled and we were then able to study them more closely. They sat peering across the water, craning their necks, gazing as it were into the inscrutable future, eager to solve some great mystery. Their lives are strange, weird, and there is a fascination in studying them, a longing to understand them better. Lifting anchor, we envy the . gannets in their island home, surrounded by such beauty. In the east the Coromandel Peninsula stretched through the light haze to Colville, . and was lost in the blue while to the north the far-off Barrier raised its crest from summer' seas, and stood defiant. against the sky. A light breeze tempered the afternoon sun, and happy we ran before it to a peaceful bay on Waiheke Island. Our thought that evening, as we were softly lulledTto sleep by the gentle rolling of the yacht and the crooning of the waters on the shingly beach, were of the gannets, of their life apart, their fascination.