The Northern Gannet (Morus bassanus) is northern Europe's largest seabird and a charismatic visitor along Sweden's west coast, famous for its spectacular plunge-dives — folding its wings and hurling itself into the sea from tens of metres up to catch fish. It measures roughly 87–100 cm with a wingspan of about 165–180 cm; the adult is creamy white with contrasting black wingtips and a golden-yellow wash on the crown and nape, a long, powerful, pointed bill and a cigar-shaped body that gives it an aerodynamic silhouette. Young birds are entirely dark brown with pale feather tips at first, only reaching full adult plumage after four to five years through a series of mottled intermediate stages.
At sea in Swedish waters the Gannet is largely silent, though at its breeding colonies — none of which are in Sweden — it is extremely vocal, producing harsh, croaking, grating calls amid the constant noise of thousands of birds. It breeds in huge colonies on isolated islands and cliffs on both sides of the North Atlantic, including Britain, Ireland, Iceland and Norway, laying a single egg per pair; outside the breeding season it lives entirely at sea. Along the Swedish west coast it is seen regularly, especially from late summer into autumn with a peak in August–October, with classic viewing spots at bird observatories and headlands in Bohuslän and Halland, while it remains a rare visitor in the Baltic. Its diet is almost entirely fish, especially shoaling species like herring, sprat and mackerel, caught through its characteristic plunge-dive: scanning from the air, folding its wings and dropping like an arrow into the water, sometimes from 20–30 metres, with reinforced bones in the skull and air sacs beneath the skin cushioning the impact.
Read about this species in Swedish →