The Australasian gannet, also known as the Australian gannet or tākapu, is a large seabird of the booby and gannet family, Sulidae. Adults are mostly white, with black flight feathers at the wingtips and lining the trailing edge of the wing. The central tail feathers are also black. The head is tinged buff-yellow, with a pearly grey bill edged in dark grey or black, and blue-rimmed eyes. Young birds have mottled plumage in their first year, dark above and light below. The head is an intermediate mottled grey, with a dark bill. The birds gradually acquire more white in subsequent seasons until they reach maturity after five years.
Australasian gannet
Adult in flight, showing black markings on wings and tail
Juveniles have spotted brown plumage.
Breeding colony at Muriwai, New Zealand
Gannets are seabirds comprising the genus Morus in the family Sulidae, closely related to boobies.
Gannet
Nesting gannets (Morus serrator) at the Cape Kidnappers colony in New Zealand
A northern gannet in Bonaventure Island's colony
Gannet, Bempton Cliffs, Yorkshire