Nigel, 'The Loneliest Bird' Dies Surrounded By its Concrete Friends; Conservationists Mourn Loss

The death of gannet bird Nigel , the 'Loneliest bird in the world', who lived with other artificial concrete gannets created on the uninhabited Mana island, is mourned the world over and conservationists are calling it a huge loss. This tragic story reminds us of 'The Happy Prince' written by Oscar Wilde and could well have been titled "The gannet(bird) lived and died among its concrete friends".

Nigel lived for years on his own on uninhabited Mana Island off the north of the country, surrounded by concrete replica gannets. The journalist, Virginia Fallon had reported the story and tweeted that she was proud of having penned the story.

Nigel was the lone bird to have lived on the uninhabited Mana Island for years surrounded by concrete replica gannets. Nigel was the first gannet in 40 years to make his home on Mana, arriving alone in 2013. He remained there alone, surrounded by artificial gannet birds created by conservation officers to lure other gannet birds. Gannet birds are attracted and prone to inhabit places where gannet birds exist and have already made their nests.

“Nigel was very faithful to the colony,” said Department of Conservation rider Chris Bell, who also lives and works alone on the island, and had found Nigel's body surrounded by his concrete friends. “I think it must have been quite a frustrating existence. Whether or not he was lonely, he certainly never got anything back, and that must have been very strange experience, when he spent years courting. I think we all have a lot of empathy for him, because he had this fairly hopeless situation" said Bell as reported by The Guardian.

Only weeks before, three real-life gannets had settled on the island with conservation staff expecting Nigel may have developed a bond with the flesh and blood creatures.  But he never showed any interest in the real-life birds, said Bell, instead remaining “aloof”, chattering to his concrete mate while the real-life birds got on with business in a different part of the colony.

“From a conservation point of view, he was a massive asset to have. Because the concrete gannets – they may have fooled Nigel – but they never fooled another gannet. We always considered Nigel increased our chances of getting a colony going, and that seems to be in the end what happened,” said Bell. “He was an attraction that helped bring in other birds – gannets like to nest where a gannet has nested before. It’s really sad he died, but it wasn’t for nothing”, continued Bell in his statement to The Guardian.

A volunteer group which works on the island, named the Friends of Mana said they were “devastated” by Nigel’s death.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 05, 2018 12:40 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).