They are easy to recognise: sleek white bodies, black wingtips and a dagger-sharp bill. Northern gannets are anything but quiet—especially when gathered by the tens of thousands on Bonaventure Island"s cliffs in Quebec. Each year, they come together to feed, breed and raise their young. These seabirds are high-speed hunters. Spotting fish from 70 metres up, they fold their wings and dive at speeds nearing 100 km/h. Air sacs in the skull protect them from the force of impact, allowing them to grab prey like herring, capelin and sand lance underwater with accuracy.
Colony of northern gannets in Quebec
Today in History
More Desktop Wallpapers:
-
An island crossroad of culture
-
Finding beauty in ruins
-
International Day for Biological Diversity
-
On the open ocean road
-
River Thames, London, England
-
May the 4th be with you
-
A breathtaking cave when it’s cold
-
Duomo Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence
-
Impala in Moremi Game Reserve, Botswana
-
Spine-cheeked anemonefish
-
Masterpiece of acoustic science
-
Bryce Canyon hoodoos in winter
-
Bungle beehives
-
Point Reyes National Seashore, California, United States
-
Manarola, Cinque Terre National Park, Liguria, Italy
-
Napping near the North Pole
-
Iguazu Falls at the border of Argentina and Brazil
-
Medieval towers in Mestia, Upper Svaneti, Georgia
-
Copper Falls State Park, Wisconsin
-
Elephant Rock, Al-Ula, Saudi Arabia
-
This lake is no mirage
-
The old castle at sunrise
-
Splügen Pass, Switzerland
-
Mekong River Delta, Long An, Vietnam
-
Crescent-tail bigeye fish, Great Barrier Reef, Australia
-
St. Joseph North Pier Inner and Outer Lights, Michigan, USA
-
Christmas Eve
-
World Rivers Day
-
Hot enough to howl
-
Happy Welsh New Year!