The northern gannet undertakes seasonal migrations and catches fish (which are the mainstay of its diet) by making high-speed dives into the sea.

The northern gannet was previously hunted for food in certain parts of its range, and although that practice still continues in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland and the Faroe Islands, the bird faces few other natural or man-made threats.

The Swiss naturalist Conrad Gessner gave the northern gannet the name Anser bassanus or scoticus in the 16th century, and noted that the Scots called it a solendguse.

[4] The former name was also used by the English naturalist Francis Willughby in the 17th century; the species was known to him from a colony in the Firth of Forth and from a stray bird that was found near Coleshill, Warwickshire.

[5][a] It was one of the many species originally described by the Swedish zoologist Carl Linnaeus in the landmark 1758 10th edition of his Systema Naturae, where it was given the binomial name Pelecanus bassanus.

[9] Morus is derived from Ancient Greek moros, meaning "foolish", and refers to the lack of fear shown by breeding gannets and boobies, which enables them to be easily killed.

[10] The ornithologist Bryan Nelson in 1978 supported the species' inclusion in Sula as he felt the differences in anatomy, behaviour, ecology and morphology between gannets and boobies were not sufficient to warrant separate genera.

[8] Charles Lucien Bonaparte described the American populations as Sula americana in 1838,[11] though the basis for distinguishing them from the European species was unclear and the name is now considered to be a synonym.

The literal meaning is "cleft stick", referring to the appearance of the conspicuous crossed black wing tips on a perched northern gannet.

[20] A 2011 genetic study of nuclear and mitochondrial DNA suggests that the ancestor of the gannets arose around 2.5 million years ago before splitting into northern and southern lineages.

A black band of bare skin also separates the pale feathers of the forehead and throat from the bill, which gives the gannet its distinctive face markings.

In the second year, the bird's appearance changes depending on the different phases of moulting: they can have adult plumage at the front and continue to be brown at the rear.

[23] Individuals on the west coast of Africa could be confused with vagrant masked boobies, though the latter is smaller overall, lacks the buff tinge to the head, and has a black tail.

[32] Northern gannets have streamlined bodies adapted for plunge-diving at high speed, including powerful neck muscles, and a spongy bone plate at the base of the bill.

A reduced blood flow in the webbing on their feet outside of the breeding season also helps to maintain body temperature when the birds swim.

Therefore, while Greenland and Svalbard offer suitable breeding sites, the Arctic regions have summers that are too short to allow the northern gannets to lay their eggs and raise a brood, which requires between 26 and 30 weeks.

[71] The species has been recorded as a vagrant in many central and eastern European countries as far south and west as the Black Sea, and also in Bermuda, Cuba, Cyprus, Egypt, Kazakhstan, Jan Mayen and Syria.

[73] The wings of the northern gannet are long and narrow and are positioned towards the front of the body, allowing efficient use of air currents when flying.

[69] Some studies have found that the duration and direction of flights made while foraging for food are similar for both sexes, although there are significant differences in the search behaviour of males and females.

[83] Their white colour helps other gannets to identify one of their kind and they can deduce the presence of a shoal of fish by this diving behaviour; this in turn facilitates group foraging, which makes capturing their prey easier.

As they find it more difficult to take off from such locations they will often cross the area occupied by an adjacent nest causing an aggressive reaction from the sitting pair; this means that the stress levels are higher in this type of colony than in those on steeper surfaces.

Once they leave the nest they stay at sea learning to fish and fly, their flight skills being too poor for them to return to the breeding ledges.

Males demonstrate ownership of a nest by gesturing towards their neighbours in a bowing display; their heads and beaks point down, and their wings are held up and away from the body, yet folded backwards.

[117] Although northern gannet populations are now stable, their numbers were once greatly reduced due to loss of habitat, removal of eggs and killing of adults for their meat and feathers.

[23] The IUCN lists northern gannets as a species of least concern, as they are widely distributed and as there is a large population that appears to be growing due to high breeding success, with 75% of eggs producing fledged young.

[17][b] There I heard naught but seething sea, Ice-cold wave, awhile a song of swan Then came to charm me gannets' pother And whimbrels trills for laughter of men, Kittiwake singing instead of mead.

Over time, the islanders forgot their promise, and lost the whales and logs, but fearful of losing a valuable food source, they never mocked the gannets that Tórur had given them.

Birds, mainly the young, were taken from Bass Rock for at least 350 years until 1885, when the annual cull of about 1,500 individuals finally ceased, and Shetland gannets were sold as "Highland goose" in London restaurants during World War II.

In Scotland gannets were traditionally salted to preserve them until they got to market, this technique being replaced by partially cooking or smoking in the era of modern transport.

Islanders paid their rent in feathers for stuffing pillows and furniture, the gannet stomachs were used to hold oil derived from the carcasses, and the breastbones served as lamp wicks.