Love in a Nest

Birders beware I may well want to join you after watching these beatifully coloured and lovely gannets perching in their colony on the edge of the bluffs coping with enormous winds and rugged rock. Of course it was spring and the mating season and some of them were so gentle with each other. They mate for life and the males take shifts at incubating the eggs. One pair I felt sure were an 'older couple' they were so apparently gentle stroking each other's necks and chatting away together. I was quite mesmerized by them. The markings are beautiful with snow white bodies and wings with black tips and dark lines around their eyes and across their beaks and cheeks. Most beautiful of all is the soft salmon peachy colour of their heads. This all takes place at Muriwai Regional Park where two discreet and well positioned viewing platforms have been erected. While watching the birds on this rugged coastline you can also look beyond at the miles and miles of beach and waves - a surfer's paradise for sure. We could hardly drag ourselves away from the wind and watching.