THE LIFE AND DEATH OF NIGEL, THE WORLD'S LONELIEST SEA-BIRD.

The story of a lonely sea-bird named Nigel who tried to woo a mate that had a heart of stone and died on an uninhabited island off New Zealand has captivated many on social media. Footage of the bird preening and cooling as he fruitlessly courted a decoy made of concrete has been watched obsessively online. Nigel first landed on Mana Island a few years ago. Mana is the site of an ambitious effort to establish a flourishing colony of Australian gannets. In the 1990s, conservationists set up concrete gannets on Mana to lure real birds. They painted the decoys' beaks yellow, the wing-tips black, the plumage white. They played sea-bird calls over speakers. On the very first day, two gannets swooped in, said Chris Bell, 37, a ranger for the NZ Conservation Department. But the birds soon flew away and the project stalled. Then came Nigel. He quickly took a liking to one of the replicas, according to Bell. Month after month, the bird cosied up to his chosen mate, but "she" remained aloof. "I think the saddest part is, what a frustrating existence to be courting this stone bird and getting nothing back', Bell said, "Not getting rejected, not getting encouragement". Though Nigel lived a mostly solitary life, he became the linchpin of the efforts to draw other gannets to Mana. In December 2017, after years of hoping the project would take off, conservationists re-doubled efforts. They re-positioned the decoys and moved the speakers so that recorded bird sounds would be carried clear out to sea. The decoys got fresh paint. And suddenly, Nigel had company."Within 10 days", Bell said, "there were three more gannets" on the island. The conservationists were elated, hoping they would stay. But Nigel? He avoided the birds, refusing to leave his mate. Then one day, Bell found him dead.
--Challapalli Srinivas Chakravarthy--
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