Razorbills in love and more workshop kudos

I made this image of a pair of Razorbills during my recent Deluxe Puffins Galore Lighthouse Island Adventure Workshop in Quebec, Canada. Razorbills are extraordinarily beautiful. During the breeding season, they have a thin white line from the eye to the base of the bill and another white line across the otherwise black bill—striking!

Razorbills (Alca torda, Petit Pingouin, RAZO) from my Deluxe Puffins Galore Lighthouse Island Workshop Adventure. Mingan Archipelago National Park Reserve, Quebec, Canada. Image Copyright ©Christopher Dodds. Sony a9 III Mirrorless camera & Sony FE 600mm f/4 G Master OSS Lens with Sony 1.4X teleconverter (@840mm). ISO 5,000, f/5.6 @ 1/5,000s Manual exposure. Full-Frame Image.

“No matter your experience with birds in flight or type of camera, you can’t help but pick up valuable knowledge and photographic skills during this wonderful excursion. Chris knows lighting. He knows (the) best camera settings from his long experience. And he knows puffins. He shares his insights and advice without being overbearing. I venture to say Chris is not exaggerating when he describes this as the best place in the world to photograph these adorable birds. . . . . I highly recommend Chris and this workshop. ”

— Belinda Prinz | Ohio, USA | Deluxe Puffins Galore Workshop 2024

Northern Gannets Lovers

Sitting quietly and observing a colony of Northern Gannets interact is a magical gift. On a foggy morning in a sea of white, I picked out this loving couple with my telephoto lens, gently greeting one another after the closest bird returned from a fishing trip at sea. These beautiful birds pair for life (with frequent “out-of-nest” encounters - smile). Each season, they travel hundreds of miles to come together like long-lost lovers, to rekindle their commitment to one another before nesting. This was photographed in Eastern Quebec during my recent Gannets Galore and so much more workshops. I have pre-visualized this image for over a decade and come close several times, but the isolated subjects, eye contact and ethereal, diffused, low-contrast light make this one special for me; a favourite from the trip!

Northern Gannets Fencing (Morus bassanus, Fou de Bassan, NOGA) from my GANNETS GALORE WORKSHOP at Bonaventure Island, Quebec, Canada ©Christopher Dodds All Rights Reserved. Sony Alpha a9 III Mirrorless camera & Sony FE 600mm f/4 G Master OSS Lens & Sony 1.4X Tele-extender @840mm. ISO 1,250, f/6.3 @ 1/5,000s Manual exposure. Full frame image.

Black-eyed birds: Northern Gannets with black eyes believed to be survivors of High Pathogenicity Avian Influenza virus (HPAIV) H5N1

Here is an image of a pair of Northern Gannets fencing made during my Gannets Galore and so much more workshop on Bonaventure Island in Quebec.

I worked hard to find a pair of Northern Gannets that clearly showed the difference between a normal eye and the eye of an Avian Flu survivor with an entirely black iris. I pre-visualized an image of a mated pair of fencing Gannets(see my last post HERE) like this: I wasn’t at all convinced that I would succeed because of the likelihood that both mates could have survived infection and developed the same black irises, or, worse yet, there wouldn't be any pairs with one of each eye colour.

What we know:

Shortly after Northern Gannets tested positive for High Pathogenicity Avian Influenza virus (HPAIV) H5N1, researchers started seeing Gannets with unusual iris colouring, ranging from mottled to entirely black. Gannets typically have piercing pale blue/grey eyes, so the black eyes were conspicuous and something no one had seen before. The combination of birds with black eyes being seen for the first time during the first known outbreak of HPAIV led researchers to suspect that the colouring of the black iris was linked to infection.

At the Scottish Bass Rock Northern Gannetry, Seventy-eight percent of the black-eyed birds tested had antibodies to H5N1, proving that the development was likely a direct consequence of a previous HPAI infection. Read a great article by Jude Lane of the UK Marine Conservation Science Team, RSPB, at the British Ornithologists’ Union Blog HERE.

Teams from Environment and Climate Change Canada and the Université du Québec à Rimouski are continuing to study the effects of avian flu on the Northern Gannets at the Bonaventure Island colony in Québec, and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds are studying the effects at the Bass Rock colony in Scotland.

Northern Gannets Fencing. Avian flu black iris comparison to normal iris (Morus bassanus, Fou de Bassan, NOGA) from my GANNETS GALORE WORKSHOP at Bonaventure Island, Quebec, Canada ©Christopher Dodds All Rights Reserved. Sony Alpha a9 III Mirrorless camera & Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS Lens @600mm. ISO 1,000, f/6.3 @ 1/5,000s Manual exposure.

Northern Gannets Lovebirds

A pair of Northern Gannets “fencing” during my Gannets Galore and so much more workshops in Quebec. After one mate returns to the nest (in this case, the super clean one on the right), Gannets greet each other by facing each other, often touching, calling, and shaking heads side to side as their bills clack together (fencing; think sword-fighting a la “on guard”), bowing, and finally preening each other’s necks.

While I often strive to isolate the subject using a longer focal length, I chose not to increase my reach by switching to the 2X tele-extender after realizing that I love the added interest of the second, out-of-focus pair of Gannets in the lower right-hand corner.

Northern Gannets Fencing (Morus bassanus, Fou de Bassan, NOGA) from my GANNETS GALORE WORKSHOP at Bonaventure Island, Quebec, Canada ©Christopher Dodds All Rights Reserved. Sony Alpha a9 III Mirrorless camera & Sony FE 600mm f/4 G Master OSS Lens & Sony 1.4X Tele-extender @840mm. ISO 1,250, f/5.6 @ 1/5,000s Manual exposure. Full frame image.