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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.
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.
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:
