Cape May Pelagic – Northern Gannets!

As soon as it was light enough to see this past Saturday morning, when we left on the Atlantic Star on an all-day pelagic trip being led by Paul Guris of See Life Pelagics, we began to see Northern Gannets. Every so often, one or two gannets would pass by the boat fairly close. But then, later in the day once we had starting chumming for gulls, the gannets grew braver and braver and eventually were flying within feet of the boat and diving into the water right in front of us. The weather at that point during the day was great – bright blue skies with great natural lighting. Pretty soon everyone on the boat was huddled around the back of the boat, admiring the gannets. All but a handful of the 150 Northern Gannets we saw were adults. Below are a few of my favorite gannet photos from Saturday.

Northern Gannet - one of the few subadults we saw (Photo by Alex Lamoreaux)

Northern Gannet - another of the younger gannets to pass the boat (Photo by Alex Lamoreaux)

Northern Gannet - adult that came in really close (Photo by Alex Lamoreaux)

Northern Gannet - adult diving right behind the boat (Photo by Alex Lamoreaux)