We took a Gannett Safari tour this morning to the Gannett nesting areas - or colonies - near Cape Kidnappers. Cape Kidnappers gets its name from the time of Captain Cook. On a passage through here, it appeared that one of the two Tahitian crew members on his ship was kidnapped by a local Maori group. The young man escaped and returned to the ship. Since that time, although considered a possible misunderstanding - the Maori may have thought they were rescuing him - the area has been known as Cape Kidnappers.
There are three distinct Gannett colonies in this area. One on a beach, one on some cliffs and the one that we visited on the top of a hill. All are more or less within sight of each other. We passed by the colonies on the beach and in the cliffs to get to the one at the top of the hill.
The Gannetts are nesting and each pair of birds will have only one egg in their nest. The birds are a bit awkward when landing. When one returns to the nest they rub their necks together.
In the afternoon we did some wine tastings.
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