GANNETS LEAVING

Southland Times, Issue 19345, 10 September 1924, Page 6

GANNETS LEAVING

DESERTINS KIDNAPPERS DISTURBED BY VISITORS (Per United Press Association.) HASTINGS, September 9. Some concern is felt locally that the gannets have not returned at the usual date for nesting at Kidnappers. Their failure is attributed to the birds being disturbed in recent years by visitors. Although the birds usually return and brood in July, at present practically no eggs have been laid. However, during the past week some 1500 birds have arrived, and although they seem quieter than the first stragglers, there is no indication* yet of nesting, and their actions are far from normal. Students of their habits are still uncertain whether the birds will nest there this season. FINEST ROOKERY IN NEW ZEALAND. REGULAR VISITORS TO KIDNAPPERS. Kidnappers is about a five-miles’ walk or cycle ride from Clifton, where sea and cliffs bar the way to motor-cars. The journey must be made between tides. Every year has seen increasing numbers make the trip. Many people have avoided disturbing the birds, but thoughtless hoodlums, shrieking girt and dogs have broken the peace which reigned so long. For some time efforts have been made by those who have eyes to see, to convince the authorities of the need tor fencing the sanctuary off. The irony of the situation, says a writer in the Christchurch Sun, is that a week following the premature departure of the birds, some officials were to visit the site with a view to having this done. Gannet “rookeries” exist in only a few places throughout the world, the Kidnappers being probably the finest. Other notable “rookeries” are on Ailsa Crag and Bass Rock, off the Scotch coast. In August the first birds appear at Kidnappers and the number swells during September until the whole of the flat tops of the cape are covered. Each pair makes its nest and only one egg is laid. How the parent birds know their own nest, among the thousands packed so closely together, is beyond human understanding. In October most of the young are out and l_*xS is the best time to view the “rookery.” A “baby” gannet is at first an ugly slatey-blue creature, but he soon develops a rich brown fluff, changes to a white, tinged on the head and neck with buff. It is said that the full plumage takes three years to mature. The old birds have black feathers in tail and wings. Soft, yellow eyes, are ringed with bare yellow skin, which looks like hornrimmed spectacles. Migration takes place in the autumn. Where the birds go has never been clearly solved. They certainly follow the shoals of fish which depart for warmer waters.

Gannets always select a high precipitous place for nesting, the reason being that their wings are too long and their legs too short to take off from the fiat. They simply flop over the edges and glide off. Their great wing span allows them to poise almost motionless in the air. A sudden closing of the pinions and they swoop from great heights on to a hapless fish. In past years the gannets arrived on the nesting ground as regular as clock work, between July 10 and 13, and commenced to build their nests at once, the first egg being laid between September 6 and 9 and hatched 44 days after. Yet September 2 has now arrived with practically no nests made and the rookery has been empty for the past seven or eight weeks. Mr A. C. Duff, of Hastings, who, during the past six or seven years, has been studying these birds and investigating their habits (his inquiries bringing him into close touch with them), has at last been successful in rousing interest, and it is hoped that some definite protective steps will be taken. He believes it is just possible that if every precaution is taken the confidence of the birds may be restored, and they may again make the cape their nesting place.