Nigel and the Real Gannet

In 2016, Chris Bell, a ranger with New Zealand’s Department of Conservation, was the sole human inhabitant of a small island off the west coast of the country, called Mana Island. He was there to take care of the island’s fragile and recovering ecosystem, including a colony of Australasian Gannets at the top of a high cliff overlooking the sea. But there was one catch. All but one of these striking seabirds were fake, made of concrete and paint.

This week on Radiolab, producer Annie McEwen tells us a love story about a rogue bird and what happens when the things we want for animals clash with what they seem to choose for themselves.

Special thanks to Melody Thomas and Kirsten Johnstone from Popsock Media, the New Zealand-based podcast company. Thanks also to Mathias Kom and Ariel Sharratt from The Burning Hell and Steven Lambke at You’ve Changed Records.

Visit Friends of Mana Island at https://manaisland.org.nz/ to learn more about conservation efforts on Mana Island.

EPISODE CREDITS:
Reported by - Annie McEwen
Produced by - Annie McEwen
with mixing help from - Jeremy Bloom
Fact-checking by - Diane A. Kelly
and Edited by - Alex Neason

EPISODE CITATIONS:

Videos -

There are many Nigel-inspired songs, poems, and plays find links to a few of them below:

• See Nigel with his concrete mate (https://zpr.io/kZZC9erwauCD)
• Nigel the Gannet song video by The Burning Hell (theburninghell.com)
• Nigel [w/ score] (https://zpr.io/t47J6VkqAXLj) by Angus Davison
• Nigel the Lonely Seabird (https://zpr.io/4gSSv5MX8xTa) by Daniel Henderson
• Nigel (https://zpr.io/FuLupaZG42sn) by Avem
• Nigel No Mates (https://zpr.io/hckrSSdBXKE9 ) by Dainius Kučinskas
• Nigel Gannet (https://zpr.io/kddxySdXqd3C) by Fred Pilcher
• Nigel (https://zpr.io/88HdTWRSd2UF) an Experimental Animated Short Film About a Lonely Gannet
• Nigel, the Seabird, (https://vimeo.com/1023401693) by Chloé Aktaş, debuted at The Elysian Theater in Los Angeles in 2025
  

Literature -

• Poetry inspired by Nigel the Gannet (https://zpr.io/xBiW9usvAkpy)
  

Sign up for our newsletter!! It includes short essays, recommendations, and details about other ways to interact with the show. Signup (https://radiolab.org/newsletter)!

Radiolab is supported by listeners like you. Support Radiolab by becoming a member of The Lab (https://members.radiolab.org/) today.

Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @radiolab, and share your thoughts with us by emailing radiolab@wnyc.org.

Leadership support for Radiolab’s science programming is provided by the Simons Foundation and the John Templeton Foundation. Foundational support for Radiolab was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.