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The Washington Post and the New York Times each have great stories about “No Mates” Nigel, a gannet who landed and lived and died on a small island near New Zealand. The island was covered with 80 concrete gannets, placed there by conservationists who had hoped the decoys would attract a reproducing colony of the native seabirds—but, for many years, only Nigel was fooled. Like many around the world right now, I can’t stop thinking about Nigel, and about the tragicomic ways humans try to repair the damage we’ve done to ecosystems and animals around our planet. Check out the Post story for writing style and the Times for extra info.
