Northern Gannet vs Roseate Spoonbill
Morus bassanus compared with Platalea ajaja
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Attribute | Northern Gannet | Roseate Spoonbill |
|---|---|---|
| Scientific Name | Morus bassanus | Platalea ajaja |
| Order | Suliformes | Pelecaniformes |
| Family | Sulidae | Threskiornithidae |
| Conservation Status | Least Concern | Least Concern |
| Length | 93.0 cm (36.6 in) | 81.0 cm (31.9 in) |
| Wingspan | 180.0 cm (70.9 in) | 127.0 cm (50.0 in) |
| Weight | 3000.0 g (105.82 oz) | 1500.0 g (52.91 oz) |
| Diet | Shoaling fish, especially mackerel, herring, and capelin. Plunge-dives from heights of 30 meters at speeds … | Small fish, crustaceans, aquatic insects, and plant material filtered from shallow water by sweeping the … |
| Clutch Size | 1 | 1-7 |
| Population Trend | — | — |
Size Comparison
Habitat Comparison
Northern Gannet
Open ocean and coastal waters. Breeds in dense colonies on steep rocky islands and sea stacks.
Roseate Spoonbill
Shallow coastal lagoons, estuaries, mangroves, and freshwater marshes. Nests in colonies in trees and shrubs.
Song & Call Comparison
Northern Gannet
Loud, harsh 'urrah-urrah' grunting and croaking at breeding colonies on sea stacks. Also gives a softer 'karrr' in flight. Large colonies are extremely noisy during the breeding season.
Roseate Spoonbill
Low, grunting and guttural croaking sounds at nesting colonies. Generally quiet. Alarm calls are softer croaks. Vocalizations lack melodic quality; purely functional colony sounds.
Geographic Range & Migration
Northern Gannet
North Atlantic, breeding from Newfoundland and Gulf of St. Lawrence to Norway, Iceland, and Britain. Winters at sea south to the tropics.
Roseate Spoonbill
Southeastern United States, Caribbean, Mexico, Central America, and South America to Argentina.
Conservation Status
Northern Gannet
Roseate Spoonbill
How to Tell Them Apart
Northern Gannet
Brilliant white body with black wingtips and a golden-yellow wash on the head and nape. Blue-grey bill with dark lines and pale blue eye-ring.
Long, straight, pointed, pale blue-grey bill with serrated edges
Roseate Spoonbill
Vivid pink body plumage with darker carmine on the wings. Bare greenish-grey head. White neck and back. Intensity of pink depends on diet.
Long, flat, spatulate greyish bill used for sweeping through shallow water
About These Birds
Northern Gannet
The northern gannet is a spectacular plunge-diver, folding its two-meter wingspan into an arrow shape to hit the water at up to 100 km/h. Air sacs under the skin and a reinforced skull protect it from the impact. Bass Rock in Scotland hosts over 150,000 gannets, the largest single colony of any seabird in the world.
Roseate Spoonbill
The roseate spoonbill is the only spoonbill species in the Americas and one of the most striking wading birds in the Western Hemisphere. Like flamingos, their pink color comes from carotenoid pigments in their crustacean prey. Nearly hunted to extinction for their plumes in the 19th century, they have recovered substantially.