GANNETS ON WHAKARI.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19808, 1 December 1927, Page 8

GANNETS ON WHAKARI.

BY RALPH H. WARD.

K SEABIRD SANCTUARY. THE NESTING SEASON. yisrr paid to rookeries. ! HABITS AND PECULIARITIES. I 1

To North Islanders who dwell near the coasts the gannet, perhaps the grandest of the birds frequenting our harbours, is familiar. To see him soaring, almost motionless overhead, his great white wings, tipped with black, his yellowy-tinted head craued downward as he quests unceasingly for his food, is one of the joys of the seaside. And his sudden plummet-like dive, wings closed, as he hurtles down after some luckless fish, is a thing of beauty. In the harbours he is a solitary bird land not more than three or four are commonly to be seen at one time. So it was with keen anticipation that during nhe latter half of October I was able, through the courtesy of the general manager of White Island Products, Ltd., to visit Whakari, or White Island, to photograph and study the gannets there. There are several other nesting places round our northen coasts, notably at Cape Kidnappers, but the White Island rookerios form probably the largest gannet centre. An approxim&te estimate of the gannet population of tho island in the nesting season showed that there were not less than ten thousand pairs in the various rookeries. Mr. R. Kennedy, the company's resident engineer, informed me on my arrival on October 18 that the first eggs had been noticed about two weeks earlier. The first young bird observed was seen on November 4, an ugly and helplesslooking, leathery bundle. There are several rookeries close to the company's camp, on tho west side of the island, all situated on bare ground, bordered with the typical pohntukawa and coprosma bush on tha landward side, and by cliffs or boulder beach to seaward. The birds begin to assemble at the island some weeks before the laying season and the rookeries, deserted at other times of the year, then become a scene of great activity. Habits of the Birds. Seen from a little distance the rookeries remind one of a poultry faimer's paddock full of white leghorns, but, when one approaches, the gannet is seen to be a much more regal bird than any domestic fowl. Near the camp tho birds, thanks to the interest taken in them by the company's employees, were easily approached, provided no sudden movements were made. The nests, placed about 2ft. apart, consisted of a mound of earth with a hollow on the top, usually surrounded and roughly lined with seaweed. After the birds have mated and selected their nesting site one or other of each pair almost invariably remains at home. This, as I soon saw, is very necessary, for the gannet. is a thief of the first order. If s, nest were left unguarded for an instant tho neighbouring birds would reach out and remove every particle of seaweed in a few moments. All day long birds were coming and going, bringing to their mutes trailing pieces of seaweed. It was a constant Bource of wonder to me to see the precision with which they landed at their respective nests, each a facsimile of the next one, even when hampered with a fragment of seaweed, perhaps 18in. in length. But occasionally a bird stemed to alight at the wrong nest, and immediately there would be an uproar. All the gannets round would reach out from their nests, Inging savagely at the luckless intruder, who would invariably beat a retreat, struggling' with flapping wings to the outskirts of the rookery, every bird giving a vicious jab as ho passed. Like Shattering Knives. One day I tossed small twigs of coprosma shrub to a gannet which had just brought his mate an offering of seaweed. For a moment he eyed the gift ' suspiciously, then with heavy waddling gait moved slowly toward it, keeping a cold gaze fixed on me as he advanced. Once he had picked it up all hesitancy vanished and he returned to his mate at a ludicrous trot, wings half stretched and beak held high, to be greeted with the loving caresses always indulged in ■when one bird returns to its mate. The bird on the nest stretches its neck upward and the other does likewise. The beaks are then rubbed quickly together, first on one side, then on the other, with an op and down motion of head and neck, making a sharp rattle, the performance reminding one of a man sharpening two knives together. One day I was interested to see a gannet collecting grass for its nest, plucking the growing leaves with its beak. I saw it grip a large beakful, set its webbed feet wide apart, and lie back like a man hauling on » rope. An instant later the grass came out by the roots and the bird sprawled ignominously backward, as surprised as I was, but apparently not as amused. It was the only occasion on which I saw a gannet. lose its dignity. Affection and Pugnacity. When I arrived at the fsland about onethird of the nests had eggs, and when I left on November 5 only about ten per cent, remained without them, but even at that date there still appeared to be a small number of unmated birds. Only one egg is laid, white in colour and about three inches in length. The male bird takes turns equally with the female in sitting ( i the egg, one going off to feed while the other is on duty, and both share ,he work of bringing food in to the you; 7 ig bird when it arrives. The birds show great affection for their mates, the return of one to the other being alwayit an occasion for much billing and cooing. Otherwise there is no sociability in the rookeries, save for the courting of one bird by another, in the early part of the season, prior to the taking of each other for better or "worse. I saw a number of savage fights, most of which seemed to arise from one bird encroaching too cLsely to another's nest during building operations. Occasionally there seemed no reason for the sudden attack which one would make on another, unless it was simply that the aggressor did not like the look of the other. The favourite method of fighting was for one to get a grip of tho top or bottom half of the other's beak, and then hang on like grim death, giving every now and then a savage shake, sometimes dragging the other several feet, sometimes thrusting him (or her for the sexes cannot be distinguished on sight) backward. After some days' observation I began to find it very interesting to cote the gradual changes in the building of particular nests. One morning, on seeing a bird whose nest I had been watching for some days stand up to stretch, thus disclosing an egg which had not been there the previous day, I seemed to sense an added importance in its manner, with which I felt full sympathy. It appeared to settle down on the egg with even greater dignity than it usually displayed (and the gannet is nothing if not dignified), rolling from side to 3ide until it had the egg securely held in the typical manner, between the two inner halves of its webbed feet, before sitting fully down. Having shared their domestic life for mare tha'3 a fortnight I shall, in future, gaze with even ||reator interest than formerly when 1 nee Mr. (or Mrs.) Sola Serrator sailing majestically overhead, white wings ont•pread against blue sky, tho embodiment grace and freedoir,.