congenitaldisease:

Nigel, the loneliest bird in the world, has passed away.

Nigel lived a very tragic and lonely life, to say the least. He lived his life on the edge of the cliffs of an uninhabited island just off New Zealand. He has been found dead alongside his life partner - a concrete bird.

Nigel has lived on Mana Island for he past five years. 80 concrete gannets were placed on the island in hopes that it would lure real gannets to the island. Only one gannet came to the island, however, and that gannet was Nigel. He was the first gannet to make home on the island in over 40 years.

Nigel became besotted with one of the concrete birds. Over the past five years, volunteers have been observing Nigel, who went to great lengths in an attempt to woo the concrete bird. He even built an intricate nest from seaweed and twigs. He was often observed grooming her concrete festers and chatting to her - year after year.

In a cruel twist of fate, three other gannets recently arrived on the island as a “Christmas surprise.” Conservation staff had hoped that he would have bonded with the creatures. Nigel, however, refused to leave his partner and join them. His commitment was confirmed when he died by its side… “I think we all have a lot of empathy for him, because he had this fairly hopeless situation,” conservation ranger, Chris Bell.