Photo: Young Australasian Gannet Cape Kidnappers Hawkes Bay New Zealand

A Young Australasian Gannet, proper name Morus serrator, is only six to eight weeks old in this photograph and is shown with an adult Australasian Gannet. These birds are found in Hawkes Bay on the North Island of New Zealand.

This young Australasian Gannet, with a proper name Morus serrator, is shown with an adult Gannet. This young gannet bird is only six to eight weeks old. These particular birds were seen at the Cape Kidnappers colony in the Hawkes Bay, on the east coast of the North Island of New Zealand.

The Gannets are a seabird and spend most of their lives out at sea, and only come on to land to nest and raise their young. When the gannet chicks hatch from the egg they are blind and helpless and covered in a white down which they loose as they mature. Young Gannets are not considered mature until they are over five years old and are able to survive on their own. When a Gannet is an adult bird they have all white feathers with black wing tips, a yellow head and a grey coloured beak. ... continue below the picture...

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Gannets are generally monogamous birds and when reunited with their mate have an elaborate greeting ritual, which involves tapping their beaks together and performing a social dance of sorts. The adult birds stay close to the nests once the young are born.

Young Australasian Gannet, Morus serrator, (6-8 weeks old) with adult at Cape Kidnappers, Hawkes Bay, East Coast, North Island, New Zealand.