Editing Gannet (section)

== Mating and nesting ==
Gannets are [[Bird colony| colonial]] breeders on islands and coasts, normally laying one chalky-blue egg. They lack [[brood patch]]es and use their webbed feet to warm the eggs.<ref>{{cite journal| title= Brood-patches and the physiology of incubation| author= Tucker, B.W.| journal= British Birds| volume= 37| issue= 2| pages= 22–28| url= https://britishbirds.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/article_files/V37/V37_N02/V37_N02_P022_028_A005.pdf| access-date= 2017-03-07| archive-date= 2020-07-31| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200731210446/https://britishbirds.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/article_files/V37/V37_N02/V37_N02_P022_028_A005.pdf| url-status= dead}}</ref> They reach maturity around 5 years of age. First-year birds are completely black, and subsequent subadult plumages show increasing amounts of white.

=== Northern gannets ===
The most important nesting ground for [[northern gannet]]s is the United Kingdom, with about two-thirds of the world's population. These live mainly in Scotland, including the [[Shetland Isles]]. The rest of the world's northern-gannet population nests in Canada, Ireland, the [[Faroe Islands]], and [[Iceland]], with small numbers in France (they are present in the [[Bay of Biscay]]), the [[Channel Islands]], Norway, and a single colony in Germany on [[Heligoland]]. The biggest northern-gannet colony is on Scotland's [[Bass Rock]] in the Firth of Forth; in 2014, this colony contained some 75,000 pairs.<ref>
{{cite web
 | url = http://www.scotsman.com/news/environment/scotland-s-gannet-population-soars-across-country-1-3720868
 | title = Scotland's gannet population soars across country
 | first = Alistair | last = Munro | date = 18 March 2015
 | publisher = [[The Scotsman]] | access-date = 21 July 2017
}}
</ref>
[[Sula Sgeir| Sulasgeir]] off the coast of the [[Isle of Lewis]], [[St. Kilda, Scotland |St Kilda]], [[Grassholm]] in [[Pembrokeshire]], [[Bempton Cliffs]] in the [[East Riding of Yorkshire]], [[Little Skellig |Sceilig Bheag]], Ireland, [[Cape St Mary's Ecological Reserve|Cape St Mary's]], Newfoundland, and [[Bonaventure Island]], [[Quebec]], are also important northern-gannet breeding sites.