Nigel and the Real Gannet
Radiolab
08/14/26
•25m
About
Comments
Featured In
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 -
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 August 7 36m It was the early '80s, the height of the Cold War, when something strange began happening off the coast of Sweden. The navy reported a mysterious sound deep below the surface of the ocean. Again, and again, and again they would hear it near their secret military bases, in their harbors, and up and down the Swedish coastline. After thorough analysis the navy was certain. The sound was an invasion into their waters, an act of war, the opening salvos of a possible nuclear annihilation. Or was it? Today, Annie McEwen pulls us down into a deep-sea mystery, one of international intrigue that asks you to consider the possibility that maybe, just maybe, your deepest beliefs could be as solid as...air. Special thanks to Ben Wilson, Ola Tunander, Hans Gordon, Andreas Timmelstad, Klaus Helmersen, and Meg Bolz. LATERAL CUTS - EPISODE CREDITS: 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. August 21 51m The greatest mysteries have a shadowy figure at the center—someone who sets things in motion and holds the key to how the story unfolds. In epidemiology, this central character is known as Patient Zero—the case at the heart of an outbreak. This hour, Radiolab digs up an episode we first produced in 2011 and hunts for Patient Zeroes from all over the map. We start with the story of perhaps the most iconic Patient Zero of all time: Typhoid Mary. Then, we dive into a molecular detective story to pinpoint the beginning of the AIDS, and we re-imagine the moment the virus that caused the global pandemic sprang to life. After that, we're left wondering if you can trace the spread of an idea the way you can trace the spread of a disease. In the end, we find ourselves faced with a choice between competing claims about the origin of the high five. Signup for our newsletter!! It includes short essays, recommendations, and details about other ways to interact with the show. Sign up (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. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.Previous Episode
Red Herring
Reported by - Annie McEwin
with help from - Magnus Ormstadt
Produced by - Annie McEwin, Matt Kielty, Sarah Qari
Original music and sound design contributed by - Jeremy Bloom
Next Episode
Patient Zero
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.
If you like this episode you’ll love
Promoted