Mary Lou Bloxsom, age 11, of Milford, Conn., for her question:
WHAT SORT OF BIRD IS THE GANNET?
The handsome gannet is as big as a goose and as gentle as a tame pet budgie. In fact, his close cousins are called boobies because they do not fear human beings at all. Sad to say, many gannets and boobies have been killed by people who took advantage of their trusting natures.
The gannet belongs to cool coastal seas, where he fishes all day and sleeps like a floating duck on the water. In early spring he comes ashore to raise the family chick on some lofty, lonely cliff. If you chance to see him, he is sure to be with a flock of friends and relatives. You might mistake them for a flock of big geese, crowded on a cliff or wheeling above the water.
The adult gannet may be more than a yard long, and most of his plumage is as white as fresh fallen snow.
His graceful head and neck are tinged with rosy gold, and there are black tips on his wide wings. His webbed feet are charcoal gray, fine for swimming but rather clumsy for walking. He has a long, straight yellow beak with a wide base that tapers to a point just right for jabbing fish.
When the time comes to feed, the whole flock flies around over a school of herring, mackerel or squid. One by one, down they plunge with half folded wings, splashing the water in spurts of spray. A gannet may plunge from 100 feet or more, dive underwater and flap wings and feet to chase his prey. His skull bones are extra hard, and there are air sacs in his head to soften the blow as he dives.
In winter the gannet may migrate to Florida or North Africa. In February he returns to one of 22 worldwide gannetries. There on a lofty ledge he battles his brethren for his chosen nesting site which is about two feet from neighbors on all sides.
The female gannet lays a blue 3 inch egg, which soon turns chalky white. The nest on a bare rock is a solid bed of seaweeds and assorted debris. For a day or so the precious egg is folded under her wide webbed feet Then the male gannet takes his turn.
The naked chick soon gets a fluffy coat, mottled with brown and white. His devoted parents feed and tend him for two months. Then he is deserted and promptly flies down to the sea. However, he is too fat to fly back home. But after a few days of dieting, while learning to fish, he is slim enough to fly off where he chooses.