A few miles south of St. John's is the Witless Bay Ecological Reserve. This includes several islands which attract thousands of seabirds which nest there. A few local companies operate boat tours to visit the reserve.
The catamaran tour boat the we went out on.
A seal checking us out as we left the harbor
Very colorful rocks and water along the shore
Gull Island in the reserve hosts large populations of nesting Atlantic Puffins, Common Murres (aka Common Guillemot), and Black-legged Kittiwakes. Each species utilizes a different kind of terrain on the islands.
The kittiwakes build their nests on small shelves on the cliffs.
The murres nest tightly clustered together along narrow rock ledges. They lay their eggs directly on the rock surface of the ledge.
The puffins nest at the top where they can dig burrows into the topsoil in which they lay their eggs.
There were swarms of the seabirds hunting the ocean for food.
We also spotted a few Northern Gannets.
The murres (and puffins) struggle to back into the air.
The gannets are a bit more graceful.
There were a few small icebergs in the area.
One of the other tour operators had spotted a Humpback Whale so we also went to find it.
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