As it Happened: Gannets Galore

Posted in "Australasian Gannet", Pope's EyeTagged ,

Port Philip Bay is home to several colonies of Australasian Gannets. One of the larger colonies is near Queenscliffe at a man-made island called “Pope’s Eye”. The reference is a midshipman Pope who was involved in building the bluestone basalt annulus. Originally designed as a gun-emplacement to protect the fledgling colony of Victoria.

The area is managed by Parks Vic and the Portsea-Queenscliffe ferry passes reasonably close by on its journeys back and forth.
There is also a live-stream camera setup, so its possible to get a sneak peak of the Gannets resting or nesting. The link to the camera sometimes is down, but today it is live on Youtube here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCB9pUbrme4
As I’m typing its a very wet and windy day on the rock.

On occasions, the Gannets will come up the western side of the bay, and at Point Cook Coastal Park, its sometimes possible to have them in close. There are some wind and tide connections that seem to favour this, and a high tide and strong northerly off-shore wind bring the fish in over the edge of the lava flow sand and mud flats and the Gannets can be seen fishing less than100m out.
However it’s a bit hit and miss as to when the fish will run in, so the birds might not show at all, or be gone up the coast in what sometimes feels like the blink of an eye.

Here are a few shots from recent visits.

Australasian Gannet, A small section of a hunting party at work.
Australasian Gannet, this is a Juvenile.
They are as smooth as silk in the air
Locked on to target
Moment of Impact. Legs tucked up for streamlined entry. They don’t catch by diving, but rather by swimming around underwater. The dive is to get them the depth where the fish are. Fairly shallow dive as the water here would not be much more than two metres over the mudflat
I’ve seen them do this, but never been able to photograph it before. When they return to the surface after a dive they lift right out of the water. So they must swim upwards very fast.
They seem to be able to pull themselves out of the water with little effort
And away. Time to look for a new opportunity

Enjoy

8 thoughts on “As it Happened: Gannets Galore”

  1. A terrific series of image, David!
    Especially the dive and catch sequence!
    Great to have them in close at PCCP!

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  2. Love your captures of this magnificent bird David, you have showcased it well. It is brilliant how they rise out of the water in flight. I love watching Gannets fish at the mouth of Botany Bay, but they are not as close as yours. They dive so fast. I remember visiting the Gannet island at Portland in your state many years ago, it was wonderful having hundreds of them just soaring curiously above our heads.

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  4. Beautiful photography David; an absolute pleasure to view this amazing series…!!! Thanks for sharing your work…!!!

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  5. These are great David – close up and so clear. Interesting backstory too. Did not know they were such swimmers…versatile characters.

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  7. I really like your short series of shots on Flickr with the explanation what gannets do with their legs in flight and while diving. Here we’ve got lots of great pictures and I appreciate the info on Pope’s Eye. I had a look on YouTube and it’s heartwarming to see how a man made structure serves these beautiful birds. I’m tempted now to take the ferry… Thanks David!

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