Decoys

Northern Gannet

Northern Gannett Decoy Photo
Photo: Mad River Decoy

Hollow, rotomolded polyethylene with stick mount

Custom metal stand available at additional cost

Audubon Seabird Restoration Program began a project in 1995 aimed at establishing a Northern Gannet colony on Seal Island National Wildlife Refuge off the coast of Maine.  Gannets had historically bred in this area but were extirpated in the late 19th century.  Using decoys and a sound system, a “colony” was created in a suitable habitat.  In 1997, after birds had failed to respond to the site, the Audubon Seabird Restoration Program teamed up with Quebec-Labrador Foundation and the Mingan Island Cetacean Society to try and re-establish an historic breeding colony at Île aux Perroquets in the Mingan Island National Park Reserve (northern Gulf of St. Lawrence, Quebec).  This colony was lost in the early 19th century as a result of hunting, egg collecting and construction of the lighthouse.  Very few Northern Gannet colonies remain on in the northwest Atlantic and the species remains vulnerable to disease, epidemics, oils spills, other disturbances and nest predation (click here for more information).

The University of Manitoba began a Northern Gannet and Common Murre restoration project in Newfoundland in 2009.

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