Psilos Bird Photography

Bringing up baby

Gannet chicks in the nest
On a very warm bright summers day at the beginning of July myself and two friends hired a boat and went over to the island of Great Saltee off the coast of southern Ireland. As we landed and treked up to the island plateaux we were confronted by a most impressive seabird colony that held all the usual seabird species. The birds that we were really after though were still a miles trek away and the steamy hike through chest high ferns was to prove arduous to say the least.
 
 

The effort involved to reach the Gannet colony was certainly worth it. After climbing the last steep incline the land suddenly dropped away and opened up upon a spectacular vista of white. Thousands of nesting gannets with plenty of chicks were thriving in the long spell of mild weather.
 
 

The Gannets here are incredibly tame and were totally unconcerned by our presence. On first sight it looked like there were few chicks hatched but once your eyes adjuested to spotting them it was clear that there were very many more.

 
 

 
I watched many chicks feeding. The youngsters would call out and tap on the end of their parents beaks until the beak was opened. Gannets half digest the fish they catch and the chicks reached down their throats to feed on it.
 
 
For some chicks the heat proved too much and they spent most of the time sleeping. Whilst this position may look alarming most of the chicks adopted this sleep position and were perfectly well.
 
 
A very prehistoric looking youngster and one that grows at an amazing rate. Hard to beleive that in only a few short weeks they will be off flying the oceans just like their beautiful parents.