Olive Madigan, The Lifecycle of a Gannet (DOCO 2022)

These images show the lifecyle of Australasian Gannets that nest at Muriwai Gannet Colony. They arrive as early as August and display social behaviours to find a mate. They nest on coastal rocks beside each other using algae and other beach tussocks. They only lay one egg and protect it by putting their webbed feet over it and sitting on the egg for warmth. 45 days later a very fluffy chick is born!

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.