Northern Gannets of Cape St. Mary’s in Newfoundland are graceful flyers. It’s no wonder their flight is so elegant and effortless. They are pelagic birds meaning they spend most of their lives flying over the open seas, no matter the weather, coming to shore only for a few brief months in the summer to raise their young. Then it’s back to sea for eight months where they soar gracefully over the water. When we watched them at Bird Rock at Cape St. Mary’s, it seemed as if they took every opportunity to take flight. It’s impossible to tell the size of this bird from this photograph. These huge birds have a wingspan of more than six feet and their body is almost three feet long.
