Plastic found in almost all gannet nests on Alderney

09/01/2019

Virtually all of the 8,000 Northern Gannet nests on Alderney are contaminated with plastic pollution, a survey has found.

This shocking statistic comes despite the fact that, as recently as 20 years ago, only small quantities of plastic were seen in the nests on the third-largest of the Channel Islands. According to the Alderney Wildlife Trust (AWT), plastic build-up in the breeding colonies is killing the birds, with some entangled gannets found hung or missing legs.

Northern Gannets are known to forage as far as 20 nautical miles in order to collect nesting materials and the plastics found in the nests generally consist of rope or line from the fishing industry. Alderney, 15 km from France and the northernmost of the inhabited Channel Islands, holds around 2 per cent of the entire global population of Northern Gannets.

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Rare northern gannet seabird is sighted at Alcatraz Island

Peter Fimrite

Updated 5:32 pm, Tuesday, April 15, 2014

An expeditionary force of biologists armed with binoculars landed on Alcatraz Island Tuesday in pursuit of an alien seabird spotted over the past few days mingling with island inhabitants.

The strange invader, known as a northern gannet, was seen on The Rock carrying on as if it belonged, but naturalists knew better.

The sleek white seabird, a native of the Atlantic Ocean, is believed to be the first of its kind ever to visit the Pacific Ocean. Which is why the sightings on The Rock created such a kerfuffle and why National Park Service biologist Tori Seher organized a birder safari Tuesday in search of the elusive beast.

"It was sitting next to some Brandt's cormorants yesterday doing its mating call and trying to take some of their nesting material," said Seher as she desperately scanned the rocks and ruins with a spotting scope. "It could be here. It could just be on one of the cliffs."

Seher described with sadness the bird's forlorn croaking calls that will never be answered.

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Wildlife rescuer plucks seabird in distress from Midtown

By Michele Dargan

Daily News Staff Writer

Wildlife rescuer Kenny Brown carried an ailing bird up Midtown Beach on Friday morning.

At his truck, Brown sprayed the young Northern Gannet, a seabird, with Scalex, a solution that will kill the feather mites the bird attracted while sitting on the beach struggling with breathing problems.

Police called Brown, who owns Wildlife Rescue and Trapping, at about 8:30 a.m. Friday to help them capture the bird after a beachgoer reported it.

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Rare birds blown to Cape shores by Hurricane Sandy

PROVINCETOWN —

It’s been a busy week for the bird doctors at Wild Care, the Outer Cape’s wildlife rehabilitation clinic, where a number of new patients are being treated for injuries sustained as a result of Hurricane Sandy.

On Saturday, Wild Care director Stephanie Ellis and volunteer Josh Drew retrieved a young brown pelican from the beach at Sheep’s Pond in Brewster. The pelican was placed in a crib in a corner of the wildlife hospital, warmed with a heat lamp and given medicine to treat respiratory problems. Volunteers have been feeding him mackerel and herring to fatten him up.

A denizen of southern latitudes and a rarity on the Cape, the big-billed seabird was reportedly “begging for handouts” from local fishermen before he was rescued, Ellis said. It’s suspected that he was blown off-course during last week’s storm.

“He is doing OK. He is brighter, perkier than he was before. And he is eating like a pelican should,” Ellis said on Monday. But she added that his condition remains critical.

The bird was due for an X-ray on Monday afternoon at Eastham Veterinary Clinic to determine if he had any broken bones or internal injuries.

Wild Care is also treating a young northern gannet found on a local beach. Gannets are diving seabirds that seldom stray over land.

Read more: Rare birds blown to Cape shores by Hurricane Sandy - - Wicked Local Provincetown http://www.wickedlocal.com/provincetown/news/x481717042/Rare-birds-blown-to-Cape-shores-by-Hurricane-Sandy#ixzz2Buykicka