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Cannets at Cape St. Mary's ecological reserve, Newfoundland, June 24, 2016 |
Bird watching is a bonus activity of my Newfoundland trip because it exceed my expectation. Newfoundland is a major nesting colony of 40 millions seabirds all year round, time coupled for birds from different geographical locations. In April, millions of birds migrate to Newfoundland for breeding from their over-wintering habitat in Grand Banks, tiny island few hundred miles to the south of St. John's. In May, birds from southern hemisphere join them. Tens of millions of seabirds breed and nest in hundreds of sites across Newfoundland in summer, making possible bird watching in multiple natural reserves.
Newfoundland summer birds migrate south in fall when chicks growing big enough, replaced by millions of arctic birds for over winter stay along south coast. Next spring these birds will fly back to their breeding habitat in arctic.
Like whales, birds come to Newfoundland for food abundancy. Frigid Arctic waters of Labrador current meets the warm water of Gulf Stream near Newfoundland shore, produced a mineral rich area that supports large populations of marine life, ideal for bird feeding. Consequently vast number of seabirds gather here every year.
The first bird watching site I visited in Newfoundland was Cape St. Mary's ecological reserve, the home to tens of thousands of Cannets, Murre, Kitiwake, and many others. This place has long been nature lovers' paradise, given it's accessibility and spectacular seabird rookeries.
Cape St. Mary in itself is a beautiful place, with mossy barren coastal cliffs bearing many resemblances to Cliff Moher in Ireland, even the foggy weather: 200+ foggy days a year, and sunlight won't show up until mid-Aug.
The almost vertical cliff sidewall perfectly protected nested birds from land based predators.
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Cape St. Mary's ecological reserve, Newfoundland, June 25, 2016 |
One huge sea stack standing right beside the main body of headland, but is offshore and disconnected from the cliff; it's top become an ideal nesting site for thousands of gannets. When you hike to the cliff edge, the first thing impress you is this so called 'bird rock', together with the fish smell, noisy bird tweet, and the massive flock of lovely gannet pairs.
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Bird Rock, Cape St. Mary's ecological reserve, Newfoundland, June 24, 2016 |
Gannets' preferred nesting site is coastal cliff side with an ocean view where take off is a lot easier. If such site is unavailable, they also nest in groups to flat surface. That's where the Bird Rock comes from. The nice thing about this rock is, it is only 15 meters from you. I have never went to any place before where you can watch wild birds from this close:
These northern gannets came from Mexico for breeding. They are large birds, adults are about 1 meter long, weigh 5-8 lbs and 1.7 meter wingspan, strong enough to migrate over long distance. Gannets arrive Newfoundland in May, occupying same nest year after year and reinforcing it with feathers & fish bones.
Gannets are good looking birds with white plumage and black wing tips, and in mating season their head color turns delicate yellow. The bird has beautiful blue eyes and distinctive light blue bill with black strips. Gannets pairs are monogamous and lots will stay together life long. In courtship male and female will seating face to each other, stretch out the neck and shake their heads in a similar way, a mutual greeting gesture called 'billing'. See image below. Gannet pair lay one egg a year and raise chick together for several months. Gannet pairs separate when their chicks leave the nest but pair up again next mating season.
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Gannet pairs and a 'billing', St. Mary Ecological Reserve, Newfoundland, June 24, 2016 |
Gannets are high-speed divers and may dive vertically into the sea at a surprising speed of up to 100km/h. If seating long enough beside Bird Rock, you have a good chance to capture a gannet dive even by naked eyes.
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Bird Rock, St. Mary's, Newfoundland, June 24, 2016 |
Gannets is not the only bird specie nest in St. Mary's. Birds on right hand side of the image below are Black-Legged Kitiiwakes, left hand side is Common Murres. 10,000 pairs of each nested together with Gannets. A rare bird called Razorbill also are seen off St. Mary's every summer, but only 150 pairs. They looks very similar with Kitiiwakes, but with a slim white cross on front face. I stay close Bird Rock for several hours but only spot one pair. Hard to distinguish from Kitiiwakes even by binoculars.
Another bird site I went to is Witless Bay ecological reserve, the largest Atlantic Puffin site in the world. Half a million puffins nest in this island every summer, together with over one million Leach's storm-petrel, and thousands of Kitiiwakes & Common Murres.
Puffin is what I came to there for. In spring, millions of Atlantic Puffin make their way home to breed, and 500 thousands of them choose Witless Bay. These pigeon sized cute birds spend 8 months a year in the cold sea water, and 4 month on the land only to mate and give birth. They return to witless bay each year to the same cliff-top island to lay a single egg. When I went to that island, everywhere becomes colorful and lively. There are lots of them.
Puffin watching is a popular activity in Atlantic Canada, partially because this is one of the last strong holds of this endangered specie. Atlantic puffin populations drastically declined in the past due to habitat loss and hunting, and even today they still are the favorite food among some northern European regions. Luckily in Canada they are still safe, here people approach them with cameras, not guns.
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Atlantic Puffins, Witless Bay, Newfoundland, June 25, 2016 |
Puffins nest on grass land, while Common Murres prefer bare rock. They nest in Witless Bay in large colonies:
A closer look of Common Murres:
And their neighbor Kitiiwakes:
I didn't go to rest 3 bird sites in Newfoundland but imagine they are similar. The region is good for nature lovers and bird watching make you feel even better.
I done three of the four 'Must Do' in Newfoundland: chasing bergs, watching whales and birds. I skipped fishing. Not interested in capturing fish somehow.
This perhaps is my last travel notes about Newfoundland.
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