Turtlesinger, Inc.


is a Federal 501(c)3 Public Charity - New Jersey Charities Registration # CH2998200
Mission Statement: To educate and entertain the public about turtles with original songs and/or live turtles.



MAY 11, 2022



Aerial Artistry



At first we spotted this huge gathering from the beach at the north end of the Avalon Boardwalk. I looked north and said casually to Charlie that there must be waves out there because I thought I saw many whitecaps. Turns out they were gannets! We hoofed it back down to the other end of the boardwalk (and our car) so we could then drive to the north end of Avalon to hopefully get a closer look.


Boy, are we glad we did!!! It was soon dinner time, but we didn’t want to leave--so we went home, ate dinner, then came back hoping they would still be there—and they were! So, for a sunset view of them, SCROLL DOWN…



MAY 11, 2022



All Lit Up



Diving like fighter jets, shooting stars, or arrows lit by the setting sun: it was raining gannets, flashing white as they dove!


We saw smaller boobies (same Family as gannets) in the Galapagos dive just like this, but not so many. We wonder if gannets gather here like this every year in March! And we wondered if the wind blew their cries away, as we heard little from them. This was curious to us after so much volume from laughing gull colonies at a distance from our house, and laughing gulls are much smaller. I read that gannets only vocalize when nesting—but we did hear a few guttural cries. For a different view of the gannets the next day, SCROLL DOWN…



MAY 11, 2022



Smaller But Mighty



By the next day, the gannet colony had grown much smaller (with a nice view of Atlantic City in the background). We heard they were seen later in Strathmere. Here are some gannet facts I found:
Wingspan: up to 7 ft. Bodies: up to 3 ft. long. Weight: app. 5 lbs. Speed: frequently fly and dive faster than 60 mph can dive more than 70 ft. deep. Diet: Huge appetites (a “gannet” is someone with a voracious appetite!) squid, schools of mostly small fish 1-12” in length, herring, sand lance, pollack, menhaden, capelin, cod, garfish, coalfish, whiting, pilchard, and haddock.

On this day there must have been much less fish, fish that moved away or much deeper. For more great diving, SCROLL DOWN…


MAY 11, 2022



Found More Fish



This bunch found some fish and resumed their intricate diving. They say gannets can run into each other, but we never saw it. To me it looked like the most intricate, interwoven and impossibly performed ballet, or a symphony with so many moving parts but forming a cohesive whole that never stopped moving (the Unfinished Symphony)? Anyway, we still found their diving/dance hypnotizing.


More gannet facts: Reproduction: monogamous, with mating rituals and courtship dances (which we witnessed with the boobies in Galapagos). 1 egg incubates for approx. 1 ½ months, begin to fly at 3 months old and are independent after a week or so.


For some final impressive dives, SCROLL DOWN…



MAY 11, 2022



The Final Plunge



Here in shallower water they don't need such deep dives. Gannets can dive from more than 100 ft. above the surface. Their nostrils are located inside the mouth, air sacs in the face and chest under their skin cushion their impact with the water, and their eyes are far enough forward on the face for binocular vision to see their prey far below the water from far above it. Immatures are brownish and take 4 years to reach adult plumage. They eat only under the water and swallow their fish while under the water.


So many migrations: snow geese, gannets, laughing gulls, brant geese, cormorants, diamondback terrapins, horseshoe crabs, monarch butterflies, hawks: what a place to be! We hope you’ve enjoyed the wonder of gannets, and we thank you as always for reading!





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turtlesinger@hotmail.com | Phone: (609) 205-9248